Buttery Soft Pretzels made with Olive Morada Olive Oil
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one packet) we used rapid rise yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup Olive Morada Butter olive oil
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
Olive oil for brushing (we used Olive Morada Butter olive oil)
Coarse kosher salt or pretzel salt, for sprinkling
Dipping Sauce in a dipping dish 2 part Garlic Olive Oil to 1 part Honey Ginger Balsamic – amount will vary for how many you will be serving this recipe will make 7-8 pretzels
Instructions
Add 1 1/2 cups warm water and yeast to a bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) and let sit for 4-5 minutes. Stir to dissolve the yeast into the water.
Add flour, salt, and olive oil to the bowl with the water/yeast. Begin to mix on low speed (so the flour doesn’t fly everywhere), and then increase speed to medium as the ingredients begin to be worked in. Knead the dough this way for 2-3 minutes, or until a cohesive, only-slightly-sticky ball of dough forms.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place for the dough to rise until about doubled in size. This took about an hour for me.
Once risen, separate dough into 8 equally-sized pieces. Preheat oven to 450°F. At this time fill a large pot with 10 cups of water and place it on the stovetop over high heat.
Roll each dough section into a narrow rope about 20″-24″ long. We used a rolling mat sprinkled with flour to help with the stickness
Form each rope into a U-shape and cross the very tops of the “U” over each other once, and then once again. This forms the pretzel twist.
Fold the rope in half, horizontally. It should resemble a pretzel! Press the bottom of the twist to the bottom of the pretzel to adhere. Repeat with the remainder of the dough, and place pretzels on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once the pot of water is boiling, add 2/3 cup of baking soda and stir to dissolve. The water will bubble up, so please do this carefully.
Using a large round skimmer spoon , transfer each pretzel to the pot of boiling water and submerge it for half a minute leaving pretzel on the spoon. We did these one at a time.
Brush pretzels with Olive Morada Butter olive oil and sprinkle with Spicewalla Everything Bagel Seasoning
Bake pretzels for 12 or so minutes, or until the pretzels are a deep golden brown.
Serve warm with your dipping dish of Garlic Olive Oil & Honey Ginger Balsamic!! Enjoy!
