So sorry, suckers – this one turned out!

I swear, if I could eat soft pretzels every day, I would. And now that I have a few extra hours in the day, I decided to make some of my own.

Mix 4 tsp yeast and 1 tsp sugar with 1.25 cups water.

Be sure to spill the mixture right before taking a photo. It puts you in a good mood.

In another bowl mix 4 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar and 1.5 tsp salt. I also threw in some flax seed to make me not feel quite as guilty when I eat 5 pretzels in a row.

Mix everything together  and then dump it on the table.

Kneed for 8-10 minutes. Oil up a bowl, roll the dough around in it and set the bowl in a corner for an hour. I put a damp towel (not terry cloth) over it to keep it moist.

Then look back at the mess you made and sigh. Oh well, you have an hour.

And you can also chug the water bottle your midwife gave you, complete with a bright orange KEGEL sticker on it. She makes me giggle.

My mom gave me that Indian Cookin’ cookbook. She included a note that I check with my local park ranger to make sure these are safe. One recipe said to sieve wood ashes into an iron pot of boiling water. I might pass on that one.

It’s been an hour! Hurray.

Punch down the dough. If R had been home, I’d let him do this. It’s like licking the cookie dough spoon to him.

Roll out pieces of the dough to your desired length and turn into a pretzel.

In a bowl, heat up 4 cups of water and mix in 1/2 cup of baking soda.

Dip the pretzel in the mixture and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once the sheet is full, sprinkle salt on them, then pop into a 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. I was baking banana bread at the time at 350, so let them sit for 15 minutes and they came out fine.

Better than fine, actually!

I brushed melted butter on them and have since been restraining myself from chowing down.

Happy Baking!