Kidspretzels Recipes

Steps:

• Separate thawed bread into 24- 1 1/2" balls.
• Roll each ball into a rope 14 1/2" long.
• Have children plan and design pretzel shapes (letters or numerals).
• Put pretzels one inch apart on greased cookie sheet.
• Let stand for 20 minutes and brush with combined egg white and water.
• Sprinkle with coarse salt.
• Place a shallow pan containing 1" of boiling water on bottom rack of oven; bake pretzels at 350 degrees on rack above water for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius).
• Put the yeast in a small bowl with the water and honey. Stir a little, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
• Mix the flour and salt together in a medium-size bowl.
• After the 5 minutes is up, check on the yeast mixture. It should be bigger than before and a little bubbly. Add this mixture to the flour and salt mixture.
• Stir everything together. Use a spoon to start. Finish with your hands. The dough is ready when it's still a little crumbly and flaky.
• Put the dough on the cutting board and knead it like you are playing with clay. Knead it into one big ball.
• Break off a piece of dough that's about the size of a big gumball or superball. Use your hands to roll it into a skinny snake.
• Twist the snake into a medium-size pretzel shape, and put it on the cookie sheet. Do this with all the dough, making 12 pretzels.
• Bake your pretzels for 10 minutes. Let them cool, add the toppings, and take a bite! I hope you like them! :D.

Steps:

• Combine 2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees F), butter pieces and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Whisk together the flour, raisins, 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a large bowl.
• Add half the flour mixture to the yeast, and mix on low speed until incorporated, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour, increase the speed to medium and continue to beat until the dough gathers around the hook and pulls away from the side of the bowl. Once this happens, continue to beat until the dough is smooth, about 5 minutes more. Remove the dough ball, butter the inside of the bowl, return the dough ball to the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and spray generously with cooking spray. Punch down the dough, and cut it in half. Divide each half into twelve even pieces, and cover with a towel.
• Roll each piece of dough into an 18-inch rope, working from the middle out. (It helps to hold the dough ends and slap the center of the length on the counter as you stretch and roll.) Make a U shape with one of the dough ropes, lift the ends and twist in the center twice; fold the ends over and down, and pinch to secure them to the bottom of the U to finish the pretzel shape. Transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheets. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature until the pretzels rise slightly, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine 10 cups water and the baking soda in a large, wide pot, and bring to a low simmer (190 to 200 degrees F), whisking until the baking soda dissolves. Stir together the granulated sugar and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Cut the parchment paper with scissors around each pretzel. Leaving the pretzel on the paper (so it keeps its shape while transporting to the simmering water), remove the pretzels from the baking sheets. Reline each baking sheet with parchment, and spray generously with cooking spray.
• Put each pretzel, top-down, into the simmering water, and remove the paper. Simmer until the pretzels plump, about 1 minute. Carefully flip the pretzels, and continue to simmer 45 seconds more. Remove each with a slotted spoon, shake off excess liquid, place on the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
• Bake the pretzels until they're a few shades darker and the bottoms are nicely browned, 16 to 18 minutes, rotating about halfway through. Brush with the melted butter.
• Store the pretzels at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or freeze them for up to 1 month (let thaw at room temperature).