July 1st

July 1st is a special day....  Noela was born that day!  For her fourth birthday, we invited some of her friends over, and made pretzels. 

The Birthday Girl!

Everyone got to role out and shape some pretzels!

And the finished product was delicious!  We ate them with salt, butter, mustard, olives, and frosting :~)  The little ones especially liked decorating them with the sugary stuff!

Here is the pretzel recipe...Enjoy!

4 teaspoons yeast (2 packets)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
5 cups flour (I used white....but am going to try wheat sometime soon.)1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon oil (I used olive)
1/2 cup baking soda
5 cups hot water
Salt for topping

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in warm water. Let stand for 8-10 min. or until mixture begins to foam.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture and oil. Mix and form into flexible, slightly tacky dough. If it feels too dry, add water by little bits until it feels right. Knead the dough until smooth. Place the ball of dough in a large bowl lightly coated with oil. Turn and coat the dough in the bowl and and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil and dissolve baking soda (Careful! The soda will want to bubble over!). Keep a lid on saucepan and reduce heat to a simmer.

In the meantime, turn dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and divide into 10-12 equal pieces (or however large you want your pretzels). Roll each piece into a 1/2 inch rope and form into a pretzel shape (or whatever shape you like!). Using a flat spatula, dip each pretzel (one by one) into the boiling water for a couple of seconds and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

If you would like to do this for a party, simply prepare the dough, and start it rising.  Your guests can then roll out and shape their own pretzels, bake them, and eat them right then!  Make sure to have a large variety of toppings...it makes it lots of fun!