Homemade Pretzels

Warm homemade soft pretzels are a crowd pleasing appetizer or snack. Serve with mustard and beer for a tasty game day treat. Having eaten soft pretzels at ballgames for years, I never thought I could make them easily at home. The key is the two step cooking process. First you boil the pretzels with baking soda and then you bake them to a crisp. The finished product is as good as any I've had at Fenway.

Full recipe and photos after the jump!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Rise Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: approx. 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 packet active dry yeast

Step by Step Instructions:
1. In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cheese and salt

3. Combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients

4. Mix with a hand or stand up mixer on low 2-3 minutes until dough begins to form

5. Knead dough into one large ball

6. Cover dough with a towel and allow to rise 1 hour

7. Preheat over to 350

8. Break off egg sized ball of dough and roll out on floured surface to a 10-12" strip

9. Fold dough strip into pretzel shape and twist the ends

10. Add 1/4 cup baking soda to a large pot of boiling water

11. Boil each pretzel for 2 minutes, drain and place on cookie sheet

12. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt and more cheese

13. Bake 10 minutes until dark brown and crispy

14. Serve warm with mustard