Pretzels (and my love for photography)

My last post entailed my first pizza dough from scratch experience. With the second batch of dough I made foccacia, and these little delights. All in all, my cooking experiences today were successful. More fun for me, was getting to take pictures of these results. I do a little part time photography for family and friends, but taking pictures of food is always more fun. For one, food doesn’t run away, cry, frown or move right when I snap the camera. I love to zoom and get as close as I can to the most intricate parts of the item. And generally, no photoshop is required to cover blemishes, or to transfer faces from one pic to another, because only 2 of the 3 kids smiled…

So here are my pretzels and a couple of my favorite shots of them. I enjoyed the baking and taking of pictures… everyone else enjoyed eating the finished products (that is after I took too many pictures).

Homemade Pretzels

Ingredients:

Directions:

On a lightly oiled surface, flatten the dough into a rectangle and cut into strips, about 1″ x 4″, and 1/4″ thick. Roll out each strip into a long “log” and shape into a pretzel. Cover and let rise again, 15 - 20 minutes.

Bring a 2 - 3 quart pan of water to a boil. Pre-heat the oven to 475F.

One or two at a time, place each pretzel in the boiling water. It will sink initially, remove once it rises to the top and plumps a little, about 45 - 60 seconds. Remove and place on a towel to absorb the extra water. While still moist, sprinkle salt over the top. Move to a well-greased pan and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

Note: my daughter asked me to make some cinnamon sugar pretzels. Easy enough, I took some unsalted pretzels and melted a little butter. Combine some sugar and cinnamon (about 3 - 1 parts). Dip the pretzel in the butter, coating both sides, then into the sugar mixture. Mmm, have some napkins ready! (I had already put the camera away at this point)