Violet Fields: Heart-Shaped Soft Pretzels

Greetings! Welcome to February, I can't believe it is here already. My first recipe of this month are these awesome soft pretzels. I got this recipe from Alton Brown http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

I decided that in honour of February I would try making some heart-shaped pretzels. This recipe might look a little intimidating, but it is actually really, really easy. These pretzels are great on their own but sometimes I like to make some bigger ones and use them as hamburger buns, yum!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (115 degrees F)
1 TB White Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1 TB Active Dry Yeast (Or one package)
4 1/2 Cups Flour (You can use a combination of white and whole wheat, I used white)
2 oz Unsalted Butter, melted
Oil for pan
10 Cups Water (for boiling)
2/3 Cup Baking Soda (to add to boiling water)
1 Large Egg Yolk beaten with 1 TB Water
Coarse Salt

Directions:

1. Combine the water, sugar and salt in your stand-mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit for about 5 minutes or until it foams.


After 5 minutes.

2. Add the flour and melted butter and mix using the dough hook attachment. Mix on low until all ingredients are combined, switch to medium speed and mix for 5 minutes.

3. Move the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap and let it rise for about an hour.

After an hour!

4. Once the dough is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by covering them with greased parchment paper. I brushed some olive oil onto mine.

5. Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil and add the baking soda. Make sure you use a big enough pot!

6. Turn the dough onto a greased work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. The pretzel I made into a heart shape was 1/16 instead of 1/8 because I thought it would look cuter. I have done this recipe making 8 large pretzels, and 16 half-size ones. The large ones are great to use as hamburger buns, and the small ones are awesome for bringing to a party.

7. Create a tube shape with the dough by rolling your hands back and forth from the middle, outward. To create the pretzel shape, do the same thing you would to make the heart, but cross the ends over each other and pinch onto the bottom of the pretzel.

8. Place each pretzel into the boiling water (one at a time is easiest) for no longer than 30 seconds. Place the boiled pretzels onto the baking sheets. I used a metal, slotted spoon for this part.


The pretzels will increase in size after being boiled.

9. Mix the egg yolk with the tablespoon of water. Brush this mixture on top of each boiled pretzel. This helps the pretzel get the golden colour on top. Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt. I used some pink Himalayan sea salt I got from World Spice when I was in Seattle.