Pretzel Bites

Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend, and while I am not a huge football fan, I can appreciate the commercials and food that come with watching the game! I absolutely love sports bar food! Wings, nachos, potato skins...anything bite size, I'll order it! So, this year, I decided to make some yummy bite-size pretzels for our celebration. I have been in love with pretzel bread recently. One of my New Year's Resolutions for this year is to make more bread. I know this seems contrary to what most resolutions consist of (i.e. dieting) but I love bread and if I can make it with less salt, additives, and healthy flour options, then I have no problem keeping it in my diet. Making pretzel bread was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be! One loaf of dough yields dozens of these bites, so don't worry - this recipe makes plenty of bites for your friends. In fact, I had so much leftover dough, I made pretzel buns with them for burgers. They didn't turn out as photogenic as the bites, but nonetheless, they were tasty! Below you can follow my steps on how to make your own pretzel bites. This recipe makes about 6 dozen bites.

Once your dough is ready to go, pinch a ball and roll it into a rope.

Cut the dough into one inch pieces.

Add baking soda to a large stockpot, and bring it to a boil.

Drop your bites into the water. I boiled about 15 at a time.

Boil for about 30 seconds, then using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 425F. Brush the bites with egg wash, top with sea salt, and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Pretzel Bites

Preparation:  1.5 hr Cook Time: 18 min Total Time: A little less than 2 hours

Ingredients

        

          1  1/2 cups warm water

          1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

          6 tbsp butter, melted

          2 tbsp light brown sugar

          4  1/2 cups flour
          2  1/2 tsp salt
          1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp cold water
          1/2 cup baking soda
          Vegetable oil
          Coarse sea salt

Instructions

          1) In the bowl of a stand mixer, using your dough hook, combine water, sugar, yeast and butter. 

               Make sure the butter is warm, not hot. Blend until combined. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

          

          2) Add salt and flour and mix until combined. Once the flour is blended in, increase your speed 

               to medium and blend for 4-5 minutes, or until the dough begins forming into a ball. 

               If the dough appears wet, add more flour, 1 tsp at a time.

          3) Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, and form it into a ball. Turn to coat the dough with the oil.

          4) Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for an hour.

           5) Preheat the oven to 425F. Then bring your water to a rolling boil with the baking soda.

           6) Pinch a ball of the dough, and roll it into a rope. Cut one inch pieces and drop them into the water.

           7) Boil the bites for 30 seconds, boiling about 15 at a time. Remove with a slotted spoon and 

                 transfer to a cookie sheet.

           8) Brush the bites with egg wash, and follow with a few pinches of coarse sea salt so that the 

                 salt adheres to the egg wash.

            9) Bake the bites for 15-18 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Serve with honey mustard.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Bread

Rosemary Bread

My friends have finally broken me down to share this recipe. My secret recipe is out!

I started making this bread five years ago when I first moved to Atlanta. I was definitely trying to impress my now husband, Garrett by showing him I could cook more than just spaghetti. I think between this recipe and my roast leg of lamb, I sealed the deal and got a pretty great man out of it. My neighbors at our apartment would stop in unexpectedly all the time to visit with us. I don't know if they had a sixth sense as to when I was making this bread, but it seemed like we were never alone when a batch of this was in the oven.

Rosemary bread feels like you're eating a bite of history. I can imagine families hundreds of years ago sitting around the table eating this bread and feeling joy with each warm bite. 

I usually think of this bread as a fall recipe, but with all of the gorgeous tomatoes I've collected over the last few weeks, I thought it would make a great base for a caprese bruschetta with fresh mozzarella.

Usually I serve this bread plain as an appetizer with an olive oil infusion I've created at the time. I like taking small jars and putting various herbs and spices to have a lot of quick options to use for my meal that night. My favorite combination for this bread is a small amount of balsamic vinaigrette, cracked black pepper and flaked salt. It's simple and extremely satisfying. If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?

Rosemary Bread

Preparation: 2.5 hours

                  Cook Time: 20-30 min  Total Time: 3 hours                       

Ingredients

        

          3 tsp fresh chopped rosemary + 1/2 tsp to top the bread

          2 cups all purpose flour

          1 pack active dry yeast

          1 1/2 tsp sugar

          1 cup water

          2 tsp flaked salt + 1 tsp to dust the top of the bread (or regular salt if you don't have flaked)

          Olive oil to top 

Instructions

        

          Dissolve yeast in the warm water with sugar and let it do it's thing. In a separate bowl, mix your flour, 

          salt and chopped rosemary. When your yeast is ready (about 2-3 minutes) add it to the bowl of dry 

          ingredients. Mix until blended. The dough should be sticky.

          Cover the dough bowl with a damp cloth and let it rise for 1 hour. If you used your Kitchenaid mixer, lift 

          the paddle and cover your bowl with a damp cloth and let sit an hour. 

           Remove the dough and place it on an oiled cookie sheet. Form the dough into a circle and cover with oil. 

           Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit another hour.

           Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap from the bread and brush a little more 

           olive oil on top with your fingers. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and 

           lower the temperature to 375. Top the bread with chopped rosemary and flaked salt. Place back in the 

           oven for 15 minutes.

          Let your bread cool for 5-7 minutes and then cut and serve. Mix a plate of olive oil, balsamic 

          vinaigrette and cracked pepper as a quick dip. Enjoy!