Soft Pretzels

This is a wonderful recipe to make
with children. They love to form 
their own pretzels.  We often
make these on a rainy afternoon.

1 package yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water 
1 tsp. sugar 
4 cups flour  
1 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
1 T. vegetable oil

This can be made in a breadmaker
on manual mode or by hand:

Dissolve yeast with 1 tsp. sugar 
in warm water. Stir flour, 1 T. 
sugar, and 1 tsp. salt together.
Add dissolved yeast and water, 
and vegetable oil.  Mix well.  
Knead.  Adjust flour if necessary 
to make a soft, kneadable dough.  
Let rise 30 to 60 minutes---
whatever fits your schedule best :o)

Turn dough out on lightly floured 
board.  With kitchen shears, snip
dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll 
one piece of dough into a rope 
about 8" long.  Shape into a 
pretzel (or a letter or a heart
or ???)  Repeat with each 
piece of dough.

Place on a greased baking sheet.
Heat oven to 425° F.

Using a fork, beat 1 egg with 
1 T. milk. Use a pastry brush 
or a clean paint brush to brush
egg mixture onto each pretzel.

Sprinkle each pretzel with 
coarse salt.  If you do not
have coarse salt, you can 
crush rock salt with a rolling
pin.   This is what we usually 
do.  :oP

Let the pretzels rise about 
15 minutes.  Bake in 425° F.
oven untill golden brown, about
8 - 10 minutes.  Ovens vary, 
so watch carefully!

These are yummy while warm or 
after they have cooled. They 
reheat nicely in the microwave 
in about 3 or 4 seconds.