Mall Pretzels... At Home!

I love posting on Mondays, Barnhop Day. I always get new people reading, even if they only read that days post. It's amazing to me. I love you all for checking in here!

Today I thought I would share my favorite snack recipe. I love those huge pretzels they serve at the mall kiosks, but I dislike the mall in general. I am not really a shopper and dislike crowds. I stumbled upon this recipe some years ago and it is very good. It isn't perfect of course, not the Auntie Annes signature classic or the Super Pretzel brand at the theater, but it is very close. I think this one, if twisted out thin enough would probably compare most to Auntie Anne's chain pretzels more than any other. I think the trade off for not spending $4 a pretzel and not having to go to the mall is more than worth it!

Mall Pretzels

Ingredients:

So chubby!

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1 dash salt
1 1/2 cups 110 degree water
4 cups bread flour (I have used regular flour and they turned out ok, but I know bread flour will make them better because of the higher gluten content)
1 Tbls. baking soda
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup melted real butter
toppings (see Notes, below)
  
-Combine first 4 ingredients; allow to rest for 5 minutes.
-Stir flour to mixture and knead for 5 minutes.
-Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
-Divide dough into 8-12 equal-size pieces; roll each piece into a rope, thinner is better... they poof in the oven; shape each rope into a pretzel. You can also do nuggets, sticks or I suppose wrap around a hot dog. Sometimes my pretzel attempts don't look like pretzels at all.
-In a shallow dish, stir baking soda into warm water; dip pretzels into mixture (or brush mixture over pretzels); lay coated pretzel onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
-Bake in a 550 degree oven for 8 minutes, or until golden brown.
-Brush melted butter onto hot pretzels.

Notes:

• For salted pretzels, sprinkle with pretzel salt or Kosher salt. 
• For cinnamon-sugar pretzels, stir 2 Tbls. honey into the melted butter before brushing on pretzels, then sprinkle with a mixture of 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon. 
• For Parmesan pretzels, sprinkle with a mixture of 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1 tsp. garlic salt; serve with marinara sauce. 
• I also like to use sesame seeds, I love sesame seeds. Just butter then press into a shallow dish full.