Homemade Soft Pretzels

from: the Fresh Loaf

When I was a kid, I lived in Philly, and one of my fondest memories is getting fresh pretzels from vendors around town. In my memory these vendors were everywhere and the pretzels were amazing! I haven't been back to Philly in a million years, and on the West Coast, you just can't get a fresh pretzel on the street. Sigh... You can go to a mall and get something there, and frankly they don't and never have lived up to my memories of Philly pretzels. So we were in Germany for ten minutes one time years ago, and I wanted a pretzel! We could only find them in the train station, and while totally different from my Philly memories, they were amazing! So how does one satisfy this itch? Well, I decided that this might be the way! I didn't actually think that pretzels would be so easy to make, and I thought the boiling water thing would be scary, but it was fun! Now, these pretzels were good! Way above a mall pretzel! But not quite as great as my famed Philly (or Germany) pretzel experiences but good! Definitely worth it! Pair these with an amazing mustard and you're set!

2-3 cups flour
1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm milk

1. Combine 2 cups of flour, yeast, brown sugar, salt, and warm milk to form a thick batter.
2. Add the remaining flour as needed until a nice smooth ball of dough is formed.
3. Put the dough in greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.
4. Roll out the dough and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
5. Cut the dough into 6 pieces.
6. Roll each one into a short log and cover with a towel.
7. Let the logs rest for 5-10 minutes.
8. Roll each log out again.
9. Let the logs rest for 5-10 minutes.
10. By the third roll they should each be about 15 inches long and about as big around as your index finger. They’ll nearly double in width while baking, so it is okay to roll them out quite thin.
11. Preheat the oven to 425°.
12. Bring a large, wide pot of water to a boil.
13. Take each rope of dough, holding an end in each hand, loop the dough away from you, and bring the ends back toward your stomach, crossing them about an inch above the rope.
14. Apply a little bit of pressure to make the loops stick together, but not too much because you don’t want them to flatten out.
15. Drop each pretzel into the boiling water until they float up, which should be about 5 seconds.
16. Place them onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt while still wet.
17. Bake until golden and brown, about 15 minutes.