Pretzel Bites

Mmm. Don't they look so good? (The full recipe is at the bottom, if you want to skip all the pictures).

Combine water, sugar, yeast, and butter.

Mix up with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the salt and and flour and mix on low until combined.Knead until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.

This is approximately what your bowl should look like after you take the dough out. Shouldn't be much in there.

Grease a bowl and plop your dough in there to raise until doubled.

Make sure there is a flour sack towel on top. If not, the dough will dry out or the dough will stick to an ordinary dish towel. It is also best to cover dough up when you have kids in the house who like to eat dough. I have been known to put the raising dough on top of the fridge in an attempt to keep little fingers out.

All doubled and ready to be rolled and cut.

Divide the dough into 8 parts. There is that trusty pizza-that-doesn't-cut-pizza-cutter.

Roll the dough out to about 2 feet or so. (Drake calls them snakes)

Then take said dough cutter and cut the 'snake' into 1-2 inch pieces.

And repeat and repeat

and repeat until:

your counter is covered with little pretzel bites.

Boil the pretzel bites for about 30 seconds.

Remove with a slotted spoon.

And place on a well greased baking sheet, making sure that they do not touch. The bites did not spread much, so you can place them close together.

Brush with a beaten egg. I think this was the hardest part. It was difficult to get the bites covered without them moving too much.

But I did it! After a little rearranging, they are ready to be baked at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

All done! You can dip these in a cheese sauce, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or salt before baking, or leave them plain, like I did here.

Pretzel Bites

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (this is 1 package)
6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp salt
4 1/2-5 cups flour

3 quarts water
1/3 cup baking soda
1 egg, beaten, with 1 TBSP cold water

Combine water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low until well combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, add more flour, a little at a time. If it is too dry, add a little more water, 1 TBSP at a time. Remove the dough and knead into a ball.

Grease a bowl and place the dough in it, flipping so that the top is greased. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough is doubled in size, about an hour.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring the water (3 quarts) to a boil in a large roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda slowly. If you add it all at once, the water boils over quite a bit. Ask me how I know:)

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll out to about 2 feet long. Cut the dough into 1-2 inch pieces. Boil the bites in the water solution, 15-20 at a time depending on the size of your pot. Boil for about 30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon. Place the boiled bites on a well greased baking sheet, making sure they don't touch. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt or cinnamon sugar, if desired. Place in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove bites into a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes before eating.

Serve with your desired sauce, cheese, cream cheese, etc.