Soft Pretzels

Who doesn't love soft pretzels? They are always so tempting, but how do you know if they're fresh?

Easy, make them yourself.

I'd had this recipe on my "to-try" list since about December of 2008. It just kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the list because I tend to gravitate towards sweets (obviously).

Last month, my husband came home from a friend's birthday party raving over the soft pretzels. Wouldn't you know it, they were from the very same recipe I'd been wanting to try.

This month, we've been trying to make everything we eat at home from scratch. Homemade breads, sauces, pastas, etc. It seemed like the perfect time to finally retrieve this recipe from the bottom of the list, dust it off, and eat pretzels.

It certainly didn't disappoint. After a minor mishap with the yeast (I might've used 4 tbsp instead of tsp- whoops! Not to worry though, we used that activated yeast to make bread) everything went pretty much according to plan.

I was thrilled to roll out the pretzel dough and was pleasantly surprised to find that my "pretzel crossing" skills weren't gone, just dormant. (I worked at a bagel shop for about a year while in High School. Learning to make the pretzel bagels have that perfect cross seemed a useless skill at the time.)

The recipe yielded 8 big ole soft pretzels. If I make it again (ok, when I make it again) I think I'll go for smaller pretzels. The recipe also includes some delicious queso dipping sauce. Because if there's one thing that makes soft pretzels more yummy, it's hot spicy cheese. Mmmm.

Bobby Flay's Soft Pretzels

Note: I used regular old light brown sugar from the grocery store, instead of Muscovado, and my pretzels came out just fine.