Sourdough Pretzels

On the Menu Today~
Sourdough Pretzels

~Sourdough Pretzels~
What a great way to use your sourdough starter~

Sourdough Pretzels

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator
• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• sea salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, optional

Cooking Directions

1. Mix and knead the dough ingredients by hand, mixer or bread machine, to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon or two of water.
2. Cover the dough and let it rise for 45 minutes, towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350º
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface, fold over a few times to gently deflate, then divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 18 inch rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel. Dissolve the sugar in water. Brush the pretzels with the solution and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350º for 25 to 30 minutes or until they are golden brown.
4. Remove pretzels from oven and brush with melted butter if desired.

*Note: There is no need to let the shaped pretzels rise before baking.

Sourdough, Pretzels, German