Soft Pretzels

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 Envelope yeast
1 1/4 c Warm water
1 ts Sugar
2 ts Salt
4 c Flour (plus extra)
Butter as needed
4 ts Soda
Coarse salt for sprinkling

Method:

Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 c of the water.
Then stir in an additional cup of warm water, and the sugar.
Pour the yeast mixture into a bowl and add the salt.
Beat in the flour to make a stiff dough.
Knead it for 10 min or until the dough is elastic.
Place in a bowl and spread it with butter.
Cover it and let it rise for 45 min or until double in size.
Shape the dough into sticks or twists.
Make it 1/2 the thickness of the desired finished pretzel.
Bring 4 cups of water to boiling with the soda.
Drop in 3 pretzels at a time.
Boil them for 1 minute or until they float.
Remove and drain them, and place them on buttered cookie sheets.
Sprinkle them with coarse salt.
Bake the pretzels at 475 F for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
To make them crisp, lay them on a cookie sheet and place them in a warm oven 200 F for 2 hours.