Pretzel Bites

I'm warning you now... this is a dangerous, dangerous recipe. You will be fighting your friends and loved-ones for the very last nugget. Good thing this recipe makes a lot!

Don't be scared to work with dough. It's actually more difficult to mess up than you think. Just keep these tips in mind:

1. Follow directions.
2. Knead the dough for as long as you're supposed to. Not much longer, not shorter. Set a timer if you must! If you don't know how to knead dough, watch a Youtube demo.
3. Let it rest. Don't touch it, don't poke it, just let it alone while it rises.

Do that^ and your pretzels will be perfect!

Ingredients:

1 packet active dry yeast
4 cups of flour
2 tbsp sugar (white or brown)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
8-10 cups water
4 tbsp baking soda

Kosher salt for topping
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water

Combine sugar, salt, and warm water in a bowl. Sprinkle yeast packet on top and lest rest for 5 minutes until it begins to foam. If it doesn't foam it means your yeast is dead and you need a new packet.

Add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes if using a stand mixer - 8 minutes if kneading by hand. Grease a bowl and place dough ball in it, then turn it over so it's greased side up. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a nice warm place, let it rest and rise for an hour.

While dough is rising:

Heat oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and grease with Crisco, veggie oil, or spray.
Bring 8 to 10 cups of water to a rolling boil, add baking soda.

When dough has rested, turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface and cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch ropes. I use a pizza cutter to just slice up the large dough ball. Use the pizza cutter to slice the rope into 2 inch nuggets.

Drop dough balls, several at a time, into boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds. You can boil several balls at once, just don't over crowed the water... they should be able to float.
Fish them out with a slotted utensil, drain, and place onto baking sheet.

Brush the tops of each nugget with the egg yolk mixture (you can also just use the entire egg if you want, doesn't make much difference), and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

Bake at 450 for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving. You can also brush them with butter before serving, but I honestly didn't think it needed it.

You can also skip the salt and coat with sugar and cinnamon after baking.
This dough also makes a great pretzel base for pretzel-dogs, pretzel wrapped Lil' Smokies, cheese stuffed pretzel logs, ham and cheese logs, or pepperoni logs. Just flatten out the dough a bit and wrap it around anything yummy and good. You can skip the boiling stage if your going to go this route, the pretzel will just be a bit less chewy.

Enjoy!