Sourdough Pretzels

Today's exploration was my first foray into the world of pretzels. They are actually a lot of work! And while I am comfortable using my food processor for many things and it does a great job with bread and other doughs, I do not recommend it for this type of dough because it is very, very sticky and heavy, and it was a nightmare to clean!

I snagged this recipe for Sinful Sourdough Pretzels on Pinterest from a Chick and Her Garden. I did switch up the order a bit, because when I make dough in the food processor it starts with dry ingredients, and a fat if it's separate, then adding the liquids while the processor is moving.

I went ahead and melted and dissolved the butter, sugar, and hot water in a bowl, but I put the flour in the food processor and added the butter mixture and the sourdough starter to that.


Butter, Sugar, Hot Water                 Sourdough Starter                  Butter Mix and Sourdough Starter

                   

 Flour in the food processor                                        Putting things together

 Dough in the greased bowl, preparing to rise.     My trusty assistant, Hadley

Toward the end of my two hour rise time I put the water and baking soda on to boil.

Punched down dough, ready to turn onto a floured surface

Turned and kneading

Here's my log.  I was really having a hard time getting the dough to roll into a log, so I ended up separating it into smaller pieces first and rolling those instead of making one big log.

I did have trouble getting them to stick together in the water, so I started giving them a little pinch to hold together, and an extra twist. 

I don't have a drying rack, so they did drip dry on the counter before going onto the baking sheet.

Brushed with egg and sprinkled with coarse salt, ready for the oven.

They tasted fantastic and disappeared from the platter in a flash

 (and of course I forgot to take a photo of the platter)!

Can't forget clean up!