Remember that time I made an awesome raspberry danish for Christmas breakfast? I have a confession to make: I didn’t revisit the recipe’s website, Sally’s Baking Addiction, after finding and making the recipe. Yes, the danish was delicious and yes, the website looked impressive, but for whatever reason, I never bothered to go back and see what other ideas she had posted. Perhaps it had something to do with the hundreds of other blogs already clamoring for my attention in my Feedly tab.
Fast forward to last week, when my friend Beth posted on Facebook a recipe for 30 minute soft pretzels that she’d just made. The recipe was, of course, from Sally’s Baking Addiction. It’s a small blogging world, after all. Beth’s post couldn’t have come at a better time; though I was about to begin a week long break from school, spending time in the kitchen hasn’t been at the top of my list of priorities lately. I’ve been thinking about making soft pretzels for a while now but the recipes I have take hours to complete. This recipe promised half an hour of work and didn’t even require a mixer. Sign me up.
So, earlier this week I set out to make the pretzels. For my first go-round with this recipe, I only used all-purpose flour, though Sally provides guidelines for adding whole wheat. I even skipped the baking soda bath because I was feeling especially lazy.
Everything went really well until it came time to shape the pretzels. I don’t know if it was my dough or my motivation, but after a brief struggle shaping the pretzels, I opted to just make pretzel sticks instead. This detour resulted in my completion of the recipe in closer to an hour than 30 minutes, but that tends to be normal for me and recipe following. I get distracted easily. (You would not believe how long it took me to write this post.) They were a little lumpy and not the prettiest pieces of food ever, but I figured they’d taste fine.
I was not disappointed. The pretzels smoothed out during baking and came out really well. These do have a somewhat different texture than one’s standard soft pretzels. I’d put them somewhere between a soft pretzel and a breadstick, though I’m sure my choice of shape affects my opinion as well. But don’t let that deter you…they are delicious and this shape and size makes them perfect for dipping.
Brian and I have been enjoying these pretzels with mustard, honey mustard and Sriracha. They’re keeping fairly well in a zip top bag, though I don’t think they’ll be around much longer. Oh, and I just added Sally’s Baking Addiction to my Feedly account.
