Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels and these are fantastic.  I first made soft pretzels at home a few years ago, and have made them many times since then.  I've tried a couple of recipes and these are a combination of the best aspects of each of those recipes, plus the addition of whole wheat flour.   What's great about these pretzels (besides their taste!) is that while they are made with yeast, they don't have to rise much.   Start to finish these are done in under two hours.

Have you ever wondered what makes a soft pretzel taste like a soft pretzel?  The chewy texture comes from the fact that soft pretzels are boiled like bagels before being baked in the oven.  The pretzel taste comes from the fact that baking soda is mixed in with the boiling water.  Salt sprinkled on top helps too, though these are delicious even without the salt on top.

This dough has no fat in it.  The finished pretzels are brushed with a tad of butter which makes a huge difference to the overall eating experience.  I strongly recommend the butter finish!  If you've never considered making your own soft pretzels, give this recipe a try.  These are quick and delicious, and actually not any less healthy than a typical piece of bread.

Soft Pretzels

yield: 12 pretzels

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 3 cups all purpose flour + additional for sprinkling
• 1 3/4 - 2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2/3 cup baking soda (yes, 2/3 CUP)
• 10 cups water
• coarse salt, for sprinkling (optional)
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1) Combine flours, 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water, salt, sugar, and yeast.  Mix and knead for 5 minutes, ideally in a stand mixer with a dough hook.  The dough should be slack and sticky.  If it is dry, add additional water.

2)  Sprinkle additional flour all over the dough to prevent it from sticking and place the dough in a bag.  Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

3)  While the dough is resting, combine baking soda and water in a large pot.  Set aside.  Preheat the oven to 450F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment or baking mats.

4)  Once the dough is done resting, start to bring the baking soda and water to a boil.  Remove the dough and divide it into 12 equal portions (about 3 ounces each).  Roll each into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape.  Place shaped pretzels onto the lined baking sheets, 6 pretzels per sheet.  

5)  Once the baking soda water is boiling, add three pretzels and cook for one minute.  Remove with a slotted spoon and return to the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired.  Repeat with remaining pretzels.  

Upper pretzels are pre-boiling and lower pretzels are post-boiling.

6)  Once the oven has preheated, bake pretzels for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.   I bake one tray at a time, but do what works best for your oven.

Before the butter finish!

7)  Remove pretzels from the oven and brush with melted butter.  Serve warm.  Store leftover pretzels in the freezer and defrost/toast when ready to serve.

(recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour and Annie's Eats) 

Menu for May 19, 2013 through May 25, 2013

Another weekend!  Yay!  And the weather looks like it will be pretty nice as well!   Mark has been out of town this week so I've been doing a lot of cooking for one.  It's been awhile since I've done that... and it's definitely different.  I realized one of the things I like most about cooking is sharing the food with other people!  I somehow have way less motivation to put together a full meal when it's just  me.

I was gone last weekend and have been busy this week, so I haven't had a chance to make many new recipes.  These did catch my eye though:

1. Spring Roll in a Bowl-- I like this idea in general because I love spring rolls with peanut sauce so much.  I like the idea of trying those rice type noodles and having all the ingredients in a bowl as opposed to in a wrapper.  
2. Japanese Vegetable Pancakes-- These look like a really interesting twist on a potato pancake.  Given how much I like Asian flavors, I definitely want to give something like this a try.  Don't be surprised if this pops up here on the blog again!
3. Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pizza-- Pizza on Fridays is one of our favorite things.  I love artichokes, so I think a version of pizza like this would be great.  I'm thinking kale pesto, artichokes, and more kale (like in the spicy kale pizza). 

Now on to next week.  Here are my plans for dinners leading up to Memorial Day weekend.  Red Curry Lentils were a new meal this past week and I've been enjoying them all week!  I hope you will like them as well.  Also we've got Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu and Maple Walnut Chicken that we first had a couple of months ago.  Then make your favorite pizza on Friday!  Feel free to experiment with the spinach artichoke pesto pizza ideas from above!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday:  Red Curry Lentils with brown rice and vegetables of choice on the side

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Tuesday.  

Monday: Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.

Tuesday: Leftover Red Curry Lentils

Wednesday: Leftover Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

Thursday: Maple Walnut Chicken with roasted (or grilled!) vegetables and grain of choice

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Saturday.  

Friday: Pizza of Choice!

• Have any leftovers for lunch on Saturday.  

Saturday: Leftover Maple Walnut Chicken

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Red Curry Lentils

I tend to like all kinds of curry, but I don't remember ever having curry with lentils before this.  When I found this recipe it looked delicious and I was definitely intrigued!  I thought this dish was very tasty and I loved that the lentils make it super filling.  The red curry has lots of spices and flavors, but isn't really spicy-hot (by my standards!).  It does take a little bit of time to prepare this meal because you have to cook the lentils, but while those are cooking you can prep the other ingredients.

I served this over brown rice and roasted up some kale to have on the side as well.  This curry would also be delicious with another type of grain or even naan.  One great thing about this dish is that it tastes even better as leftovers, after the flavors have really had a chance to meld together.  This will be great to reheat for lunches!

Red Curry Lentils

serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup lentils (I used regular brown lentils)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 small yellow onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch cayenne pepper + more if desired 
• 1 cup chickpeas (if from a can, drain and rinse)
• 1 15 ounce can tomato puree (no salt added if possible)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk or coconut cream
• rice/naan for serving
• handful of chopped cilantro leaves for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1)  Cook the lentils according to their directions.  Drain and set aside.

2)  Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until starting to turn brown.  Add garlic, ginger, curry paste, sugar, and all the spices.  Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the tomato puree and bring to a simmer.  Stir until relatively smooth.

3)  Add the lentils, chickpeas and coconut cream/milk.  Stir to combine and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4)  Serve over rice or with naan and garnish with cilantro if desired.

(recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum)