Super Awesome Pretzels

These pretzels are delicious! They remind me of the pretzels sold at the ballpark. I used my regular bread recipe as a base and added the poaching step to give them that lovely, unique pretzel-y flavor. I like to make them with half wheat and half white flour. NOTE: for a sweet topping, bake the pretzels plain; when they're done, brush with butter and sprinkle them with a cinnamon and sugar mixture (3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon)

• Ready In: 2 hrs 12 mins
• Serves: 16
• Yields: 16 pretzels

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon dry yeast
• 1⁄2 cup warm water
• 1⁄2 cup milk or 1⁄2 cup soymilk
• 2  tablespoons brown sugar or 2  tablespoons honey
• 2  tablespoons canola oil or 2  tablespoons butter
• 1  egg, large
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour

• Poaching liquid

•  water
• 1⁄4 cup baking soda

• Topping

• 1  egg yolk, plus
• 1  tablespoon water
• 1⁄3 cup sesame seeds (more if desired)

Directions

1. Sprinkle yeast into warm water until bubbles form, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, mix yeast/water, milk, brown sugar, oil, egg and salt until combined. Gradually add flour until dough becomes a slightly sticky ball.
2. Knead dough on floured surface for 10 minutes, adding extra flour if necessary, until ball becomes tacky and satiny. Place in an oiled bowl, turn dough over, and cover with towel. Let dough rise for 1 hr, or until doubled in size, then knead again for 30 seconds. Spray 2 large baking pans with non-stick spray.
3. Cut dough into 16 pieces. Cover pieces with towel so they don't dry out. On an unfloured surface, roll each piece into an ~18" rope* and fold into pretzel shape. Place formed pretzels onto cooking sheets, covering them with towel. Let rest for 15 minutes. In the meantime: in a large pot, bring 2" of water to a boil. Add baking soda, then reduce to a simmer.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drop 2 pretzels at a time into poaching liquid for 1 minute, turning midway. Place poached pretzels back onto pan (you can sprinkle cornstarch on the pan if you're worried about them sticking). Mix egg yolk with water and brush onto poached pretzels. Sprinkle on seeds or kosher salt.
5. Bake pretzels for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks. Yum!
6. *NOTE: Try not to stretch the dough. If you have trouble rolling them to 18", roll each one to about 10", making sure to keep them covered. Then, go back to the first pieces and roll them longer.