I n g r e d i e n t s :

• 3 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt 

• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 and ¼ tsp)

• 1 ½ warm water

• 1 egg 

• ⅛ cup butter

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 2 tsp sugar

 

Steps: 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Put warm water in a large bowl and add your yeast. Mix until the yeast is dissolved. Pockets of yeast forming on the surface are normal.

3. Add your salt and sugar; mix until combined.

4. Add your flour 1 cup at a time, stirring until fully combined each time. By the third cup, your dough should be fairly formed, but if it is still sticky, add ¼ cup of flour until your dough doesn’t immediately stick to your hands. 

5. Flour your surface and hands before placing the dough down. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes and shape into a ball. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 5 sections, making sure each is roughly even.

6. Using your hands, roll each section into a long, thin snake with even thickness. 

7. Take the ends of one dough strand and bring them together to make a circle (do not connect them yet), then twist them around each other and connect each end to the base. This is how you make your pretzel shape.

8. In a pie dish (or other large and shallow bowl), beat one egg and dunk each pretzel until covered. NOTE: if you want to make cinnamon sugar pretzels, skip this step.

9. Grease a baking sheet and place each pretzel on it (they won’t expand too much, so you can place them fairly close together, but don’t let them touch).

10. Bake the pretzels in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, switch the oven to broil and bake for an additional 5 minutes until dark brown.

11. CINNAMON SUGAR: Bake the pretzels for 10 minutes, then take them out of the oven. In a small bowl, melt ½ stick of butter and add 2 tbsp of sugar and as much cinnamon as you would like. Drench each pretzel with this mixture and put them back in the oven to broil for another 5 minutes.

12. Let the pretzels slightly cool before removing them from the pan.

13. Enjoy!