Fresh Friday: Housemade Pretzels

This is a fun snacks for kids to make on a rainy day or a long empty afternoon...

Soft and Yummy Pretzels

4 to 4 ½ cups flour

1 package of dry yeast

1 ½ cups milk

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp salt

3 quarts of boiling water

1 slightly beaten egg white

1 tbsp water

cinnamon sugar

In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 ½ cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, oil, and the 1 tsp salt until warm. Add milk mixture to dry mixture. Beat with an electric mixture on low for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise until it is double in size (about an hour).

Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grease 2 baking sheets.

Roll dough into a 12X10 inch rectangle. Cut into 20 strips. Gently pull each strip into a rope about 16 inches long. Shape into pretzels.

Carefully place pretzels on the baking sheets, and bake at 475 for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and turn down to 350.

Dissolve the 2 tbsp salt into the boiling water. Lower pretzels 3 or 4 at a time into the water. Boil for 2 minutes, turning once. Using a slotted spoon, remove from water and place back on baking sheets.

In a small bowl, stir together egg white and 1 tbsp water. Brush pretzels with some of the egg white and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Makes 20.