Monday, September 15, 2008

Pretzels

In Calvert Kindergarten, for one art assignment, Mark (translation: mostly Mom) made number pretzels. They provided a recipe for pretzel dough, and the child formed them into numbers. Well, he loved them, as did everyone else in the household. Friday night, he wanted to make number pretzels again; why not?

I used to bread machine to mix the dough, and let the boys measure out the ingredients. These are really good. While you don't have to shape your into numbers or letters, as my boys did, you certainly can - doesn't that make them more fun anyway?

SOFT PRETZELS


1-1/2 cups warm water
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt

3 tsp yeast

Sprinkle the yeast into the water to soften. If using a bread machine, add the flour and salt and let it run for about 10 minutes, to combine the dough. To mix by hand, s
tir in the flour and salt, then knead on a floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth. Let it sit 15 minutes, then break off pieces and roll into 1/2" diameter tubes. Twist them any way you'd like - letters, numbers, even the traditional pretzel knot! Beat one egg with 1 tsp water and brush on top of the pretzels, then sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt. Let them rise until doubled in size, about 20 minutes, then bake at 375 for about 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown. Ours are not that dark, because the boys were impatient.

Ryan brought them to the family room for a Friday viewing of the Hurricane Ike coverage.
The boys and their Dad made pigs of themselves
Notice how hopeful Thor was.Too much salt for a dog.

There were none left.

14 comments:

Paula said...

What fun! And, oh my gosh, your boys have grown over the summer. Your 7th grader, who was tall to begin with, looks like he grew another foot taller, and your 4th grader looks like he's well on his way to being quite tall himself! I bet they miss having their sister home (I guess I should say brothers and sisters). So with all those Paul Bunyon men folk around you, did you get a pretzel? :-)

Breezy Point Mom said...

You bring back a fond memory for me. How sweet that he wanted to make them again. I am sure they filled him up while watching hurricane coverage. I have a picture of my DD's pretzels somewhere. Maybe I will post it on my blog for Wordless Wednesday. Have a great week!

The Blonde Duck said...

Poor Thor! He looked so excited!

New Miss Pickles!

Unknown said...

You should have left a few unsalted for poor, starving Thor. Poor baby - you can come live with me - I would have sucked all the salt off and then given you one. g

Anonymous said...

That's so awesome. I love the creativity! The kids always love projects like this.

Linda said...

Of course next time you'll HAVE to modify this for Thor! Beef it up or something.

Marjie said...

Fear not, everyone! We put a couple of milk bones on the tray, and threw those to Thor, and he was quite certain we were all having milk bones. A good time was had by all. I got one pretzel, appropriately enough, it was the #1. And maybe, since everyone is coming down in Thor's favor, next time there will be a saltless pretzel for the poor, starving, 265 pound baby!

jay_say said...

This looks like a good recipe... I think I will try this with my five year olds and see what they can come up with. Thanks for the idea!

Pam said...

How clever! We are working on our numbers here and what a perfect way to make it fun. We will defnitely be making these! Your boys and dog are so darn cute.

Chronicles of Dolliedaydream said...

Hello Marjie hoep all is well!

Thx so much for the comments on my D&G's depite the fact I can't walk in them. I love these photos, looks like you had a fun day and I have been so inspired by the American 'foodie' blogs I made buttermilk pancakes from scratch for the first time in my life at the weekend which I ought to blog about ... Delish! Kitty - xxx

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

What a fun and wonderful idea! Besides measuring and learning numbers, it's great to get the guys in the kitchen.

Prudy said...

I absolutely love making pretzels in the fall and what a good idea to have some little educational benefit.

Paula said...

PS: Please tell your youngest that my kids love his Transformers shirt! Bumblebee rocks!

Lapdog Creations said...

yummy.. can you send some to NH? ha ha

Love Thor!