Homemade Soft Pretzels

                Oddly, my first bread maker post is not going to be about bread!  Instead, I’m going to tell you about these soft pretzels I made from scratch.  They were delicious.  They looked and tasted exactly as a soft pretzel should so you should definitely try them!

Recipe (from the Cuisinart Booklet)

1 cup water, room temperature

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed

3 ¼ cups bread flour

2 ¼ teaspoons yeast

                Okay, I dumped all that in order in my bread maker and used the Dough program.  If you don’t have a bread maker, then you can make the dough the old-fashioned way with hand kneading and rising in the oven.  It will work just as well!

                After your dough is ready, place it on a lightly floured surface.  Since I’ve never made pretzel dough before, I kneaded it slightly to get a feel for it.  

The recipe makes enough dough for 12 pretzels so it should be broken into twelve equal portions.  Take one portion and roll it on the floured surface into a long tube of dough.

                Now, the dough from my machine came out dry.  Rolling it wasn’t easy.  I’m not sure if you’ve ever watched the Auntie Anne’s workers made pretzels, but they just roll it out in a few seconds, twist it into form and move on.  This dough was not like that.  I ended up wetting my hands and the outside of the dough with water to make it easier to roll.  I had no problems with it sticking to the counter because slightly too much flour was in the dough already.  I think that if I make these again, I might reduce the flour amount or increase the water.  

                I was able to roll out each piece to 5.5 – 6 inches after about 5 – 10 minutes of work.  You will earn these pretzels.

                After each one was rolled and twisted, I placed it directly on a cookie sheet (ours are calphalon) and allowed them to rest for ~ 30 minutes.

In the mean time, prepare these things: 

Large pot of boiling water

2 cups water + 2 tablespoons dissolved baking soda

Preheat oven to 425°

Pretzel salt / kosher salt

                Place all pretzels in the boiling water and boil for three minutes.  After 90 seconds, flip each pretzel in the water.  Using tongs, remove each boiled pretzel and place it on a wire cooling rack to drain.  One at time, dip each pretzel in the dissolved baking soda mixture and place back on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle each with the desired amount of salt.  We used kosher salt because it was easiest.  Bake at 425° for 15 – 20 minutes.

                When they are finished, place on a cooling rack (ours are stackable and I love them!).  

 

They will look like this!!

   

YUM!

My Bread Maker

  It is time to admit the deep and devoted love I have for my … breadmaker.

                Growing up, my mother hand-made cinnamon swirl raisin bread every fall.  I’m not sure how many loaves she used to make, but enough always occupied the freezer to give away as last minute gifts to teachers and friends in addition to those as planned gifts and Christmas morning breakfast.  I used to help her with the steps that my little self could do.  While I remember how to do it, I also distinctly remember how long it took.  Between kneading and rising (and kneading and rising), she was making bread long after I lost interest.

                I’m grateful that she taught me how to make bread (in addition to so many other things!) because I can fully appreciate how awesome bread makers are.  I truly think that everyone should learn to make bread from scratch (no boxed mixes!) and by hand (knead it yourself!) before ever getting one of these machines.  However, once you do, you will love it.  YOU WILL LOVE IT.

 Homemade bread used to be a holiday treat or day long project.  My husband and I now eat homemade bread every day.  I make one or two loaves a week.  I give them away as gifts.  I recently made homemade soft pretzels.  I can’t wait to make cinnamon buns.  I should buy stock in the yeast and bread flour companies. 

Okay, let’s start with what model I have.  My wonderful husband surprised me with the Cuisinart 2 lb Bread Maker (LINKY) for my birthday.  The KitchenKapers down the street was selling both the Cuisinart model and an Emeril Lagasse one.  The store workers both claimed that the Cuisinart one was better (for reasons that escape me now) and – bonus! – it was cheaper than Emeril one.  Sold, sir.

The machine comes with its own recipe book (LINKY) and, so far, I have not strayed too far from the book.  Sometimes I add in slightly different ingredients, but mostly I’ve followed the book.  I think I’ve now made about 30% of the recipes.

What is in the book?  My word.  The machine comes with ten different cycles: White Bread, Whole Wheat Bread, French/Italian Bread, Quick Bread, Low-Carb Bread, Gluten-Free Bread, Dough, Artisan Dough, Sweet Bread, and Jams.  Each one of those cycles has several different recipes.  My favorites so far are plain white bread (I’m so boring), Challah (so good!) and Granola Bread (yum!).  Each cycle is designed specifically as far as kneading and rising times to cook each type properly.  The shortest cycle is about 2 hours (sweet breads) and the longest is about 4 hours (whole wheat breads).

All the recipes call for bread flour, which simply has more gluten than all-purpose flour.  (There is a whole science to kneading that revolves around gluten.  Perhaps I’ll make a post about it on my easy science blog, Amedeo!)  You can use all-purpose flour, but I try to buy the right stuff.  Everything else is quite self-explanatory as far as yeast, butter, eggs, milk.  All very ordinary stuff!

Holy moley.  I just realized I can make something called “Chocolate Chip Cookie” Bread with this machine.  I’m off to try that.  Stay tuned for more!  I’m going to dedicate a whole section to my breadmaker and its goodies!