Pretzels.

So, I'm kind of a loser and love to read baking blogs... Lately, a couple different bloggers have mentioned soft pretzels: Joy the Baker made a whole video about how to make them and Annie's Eats had a picture tutorial on how to make them. I love salty things (I actually prefer salty over sweet which is weird because I love to bake which almost always involves the sweet side of life..) so they have been on my mind since reading about them. The only problem is that both of the recipes from these bloggers that I really respect involved all these crazy steps... Ok, when I say "all these crazy steps" I actually just mean one, it made you boil the dough, and I just didn't like that...

That brings us to today. Once a month I'm in charge of bringing snacks for the arts team at my church and this week is my week. I normally try to bring something sweet and something salty for a little variety, you know. I already knew what my sweet thing was going to be: Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies... a Betty Crocker brownie mix disguised as something spectacular (and it is, indeed, spectacular.) I thought it'd be fun to make some pretzels as my salty thing but wasn't in the mood to do the craziness that Joy and Annie suggested. THEN, I remembered when I was in middle school, we made some pretzels in Home Ec. I thought, "Hm, if 6th grade me could do it, then 23-year-old me should be able to do it EASILY." So, my mom, being the amazing woman that she is, still had the recipe (it was actually from when my little brother Cory took Home Ec, but apparently they taught the same recipes year after year.) I made the pretzels, no boiling required, and they are DELICIOUS!

So, if you're in the mood for pretzels, then below is the recipe. Don't judge the simple jargon, it was written for a 6th grader to understand. :) (Except I'm pretty sure "baste" was a vocabulary word because that was probably way over my little, 6th grade head.)

6th Grade Home Ec Soft Pretzels

3 c. flour

1 tbsp. yeast

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. hot tap water

1 tbsp. oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix dry ingredients.

3. Add oil and water.

4. Sprinkle flour on surface and hands.

5. Turn-fold-press (aka knead) dough for 4 minutes.

6. Cut dough into desired number of pieces. (I made 16)

7. Roll dough into cylindrical pieces 10-15 inches long.

8. Twist them into pretzels.

9. Bake from 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. (15 minutes was a little long, I'd start with 10 if you're going to make smaller pretzels like I did.)

10. Baste with melted butter and add kosher salt or cinnamon sugar.