In keeping with our "Make it Ourselves" theme we've got going on, today we are going to make our own Auntie Anne's pretzels at home!
From there you add yeast, flour, brown sugar, and salt.
Mix it all together until it forms a nice dough.
And then knead it for another 5 minutes to bring it all together.
It goes into a greased bowl and gets covered with plastic wrap. Now to find a warm place to put it for the next hour.
It's a beautiful sunny day in So Cal, getting up to 80 degrees, so we just put it on the front porch. An hour later the dough has doubled in size at least.
I punched the dough down a little bit and kneaded it all a little more. Time to make pretzel ropes!
I used painter's tape to measure off 30 inches on the countertop and relived my childhood making playdoh snakes. I'm not nearly as fast as the Auntie Anne's record holder, who averages 3.5 seconds per pretzel.
Six pretzel ropes, ready to be twisted.
Theresa grabbed the ends, gave them a twist and made a perfect pretzel.
After a quick dip in a baking soda and water bath, they are ready to be baked.
While those are in the oven, Theresa made a couple extras. Homemade cheddar dipping sauce and a cinnamon sugar topping for those who wanted it.
Ten short minutes later the kitchen is smelling wonderful. The pretzels are looking fantastic and are ready to come out.
It was fun to make the wrappers for the other taste test, and making wrappers for pretzels was just as simple. They look yummy!
Theresa you did a great job with these!
And things like this are always fun to share with others. The Michigan family is also celebrating pretzels. I set up a Zoom and just as our pretzels were coming out of the oven, their frozen Super Pretzels were coming out of the microwave. We all dug in together, spending an hour just chatting away.
The kids' pretzels were fairly plain. Just melted butter and kosher salt. Still delicious of course.
For everyone else, there's lots of other possible toppings.
Personally, I love cinnamon sugar and parmesan pretzels. I've only got 1 though, so, I'll just make it half and half. Fresh bread is so good.
Everyone was very much enjoying pretzel day, and kinda wishing that there were more pretzels than just the 6.
It was fun seeing family.
And the pretzels were a big hit. Happy National Pretzel Day!
We'll see you later Michigan family! Stay safe!
Nice pretzel making, Theresa! Soft pretzels are a favorite of mine, too...that fresh, warm bread taste is irresistible :-) An "official" added touch with the colorful wrappers...verrrry nice. Guess if only 1 pretzel per person and that person wants two flavors, why not do half-and-half flavorings?...now that was a good idea...savoring two treats instead of just one :-) EOM
ReplyDeletefun! I wish I had stocked up earlier to be ready. There's a local pretzel guy who sells to all the restaurants, but during this lockdown he decided to sell them himself. 1 dozen for 7 bucks, dipping sauces for 2.75 each, and they will deliver! Early on they were day-of or next day.
ReplyDeleteLuckily their industrial kitchen is just down the street so it's literally an easy walk to pick them up. This past week was reported they did over 900 dozen pretzels! He's going to open up his own storefront when this is all over.