My New Favorite Cookbook!

You know how before I had mentioned that I had gotten A Passion For Baking by Marcy Goldman as a gift this year? Well, after looking through the beautiful recipes for breads, cookies, cakes, cheese cakes, and even  a whole section on muffins, I made two of the recipes and they were so so so good. Absolutely divine! The book has so many different things in it that are suitable for anyone and I just love it.



I first made the mouth-watering Garlic Slathered Stretch Bread for a party and it was a huge hit. The recipe uses mayonnaise which was a unique, yet totally delciious touch. I thought this and I don't even normally like mayonnaise. Then, today I made these delicious pretzels than Marcy calls Bretzels.



I had recently gone to the mall and I noticed that there were three seperate stores that sold those big soft pretzels, although most people had bought a soda cup filled with tiny pretzel bites. Instead of buying some, I knew I could make better ones at home so I used this recipe which was so much fun to make.



After I made the dough, I rolled it into a thin log and cut it into small chunks instead of shaping it into a pretzel. Like bagels, the recipe calls for boiling the pretzels which was a lot of fun. I watched them puff up into little pillows. I lost track of how long they had been in a few times, but they still turned out really well. It was also very entertaining to brush a little butter onto them and then top them with salt and some with roasted garlic that I broke up. The recipe didn't call for that, but I wanted them to be like those mall pretzels and I thought butter was necessary. If anything they made them better! Anyways, here is the recipe.



Pretzels

Adapted from A Passion For Baking by Marcy Goldman



Ingredients:



Pretzels:

1 cup warm water

1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 1/2- 3 cups bread flour



Boiling Water:

Large pan filled with water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar



Topping:

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon salt



Directions:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In the mixer bowl, combine the water with the yeast. Let sit for about 2 minutes. Whisk together with the sugar, oil, flour, and salt. Mix with the dough hook in your mixer for about 8-10minutes. Alternately, knead dough until smooth for about 10-12 minutes.

3. Coat with cooking spray and cover in plastic wrap. Let sit about 50 minutes.

4. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and deflate. Cut dough into quarters and roll each quarter into a thin log. Cut logs into 1 1/2 inch pieces and then place onto baking sheet. Coat in cooking spray, cover, and let sit for about 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the water, baking soda, salt, and sugar in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon and tongs, put the pretzel pieces into the water a few at a time. Let boil for about 15 seconds on each side. Remove, brush with butter, and sprinkle with salt.

6. Repeat with remaining pretzel pieces.

7. Bake in oven for about 11 minutes.

8. Let cool and then eat!





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