Clean Eating Soft Pretzels

Hello Clean Eater!

Anyone else have a pretzel addiction? Yes? Great. Hi, I'm Sydney and I am a pretzel addict! Soft pretzels, pretzel sticks, pretzel thins, pretzel rolls, pretzel bread...say the word 'pretzel' and my brain automatically gets a burst of dopamine just thinking about the best pretzels I've ever eaten.

However, any soft pretzel is typically very rich and caloric, with lots of sodium. That's why this recipe made me very excited!

The Recipe:  Clean Eating Soft Pretzels

• 4.5 cups of flour
• 1 packet of rapid rise yeast
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 1.5 cups of warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 egg

The Process:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Mix your honey into the warm water and stir
• Pour the yeast in as well and allow to sit and foam
• In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and oil (and egg if you, like me, don't assume ingredient lists will include what goes on top of the actual food)
• Slowly mix in water/yeast/honey solution using a wooden spoon
• The dough will get very sticky, and you will no longer be able to stir
• Flour your hands and a clean, hard surface (preferably a granite table or any type of easy to clean, stable cutting board)

• Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and workable. This may take a while! When the dough begins to stick to your hands, pick it up off the table and become one with the dough; it's much easier than trying to roll it around on the table.
• Roll the dough out into long, thin tubes. They should be about 1.5 inches thick. 
• Rip about one foot of dough off. Shape it into a U. Fold over each side to the center, making it into a pretzel shape. If you want pretzel bites, rip off small pieces and shape them into balls. 

• Butter a baking pan and give the pretzels about an hour to rise before baking. 
• Brush the tops of each pretzel with egg (which I did not do). 
• Bake at 375 degrees until the pretzels brown slightly. This will take a different amount of time for the bites as the pretzels. Mine took about 20 minutes for the bites and 30 for the pretzels, but every oven is different. 
• Allow the pretzels to cool before eating. 
• Add desired topping (I added cinnamon sugar butter to half of them). 
• When eating on a later date, pretzels should be put in the microwave for 30 seconds on half heat, bites for 15 seconds on half heat. 

Calories:

Because this recipe was taken directly (except for the placement of the egg in vs outside the batter) from another source, I know the pretzels have about 110 calories and the bites have about 30 calories. Typical soft pretzels contain about 400 calories. 

What went right: 

           The pretzels are delicious. They're firm on the outside and chewy on the inside like real German pretzels. They taste great with or without the cinnamon sugar. 

What went wrong:

            Clearly I put the egg in the batter when I should have brushed it on. I also didn't knead quite long enough, because the batter got better as I continued shaping the pretzels. 

What I would do next time: 

             I would like to try brushing the egg on instead of putting it in the batter because I do think it would make a difference. I would also like to try adding raisins or almonds. 

Will I do this in college:  

             May be after I get more used to kneading...it is a great arm workout...but it can get pretty messy and requires a lot of clean space to roll out the dough. Health wise, I will do it for sure!

Overall, it's a great recipe that I hope to adapt to breads and biscuits as I get better at it as well!