Pretzels (and my love for photography)
15 Mar
My last post entailed my first pizza dough from scratch experience. With the second batch of dough I made foccacia, and these little delights. All in all, my cooking experiences today were successful. More fun for me, was getting to take pictures of these results. I do a little part time photography for family and friends, but taking pictures of food is always more fun. For one, food doesn’t run away, cry, frown or move right when I snap the camera. I love to zoom and get as close as I can to the most intricate parts of the item. And generally, no photoshop is required to cover blemishes, or to transfer faces from one pic to another, because only 2 of the 3 kids smiled…
So here are my pretzels and a couple of my favorite shots of them. I enjoyed the baking and taking of pictures… everyone else enjoyed eating the finished products (that is after I took too many pictures).
Homemade Pretzels
Ingredients:
- Prepared Pizza Dough
- Boiling Water
- Course Salt (sea salt or kosher)
Directions:
On a lightly oiled surface, flatten the dough into a rectangle and cut into strips, about 1″ x 4″, and 1/4″ thick. Roll out each strip into a long “log” and shape into a pretzel. Cover and let rise again, 15 – 20 minutes.
Bring a 2 – 3 quart pan of water to a boil. Pre-heat the oven to 475F.
One or two at a time, place each pretzel in the boiling water. It will sink initially, remove once it rises to the top and plumps a little, about 45 – 60 seconds. Remove and place on a towel to absorb the extra water. While still moist, sprinkle salt over the top. Move to a well-greased pan and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove and enjoy!
Note: my daughter asked me to make some cinnamon sugar pretzels. Easy enough, I took some unsalted pretzels and melted a little butter. Combine some sugar and cinnamon (about 3 – 1 parts). Dip the pretzel in the butter, coating both sides, then into the sugar mixture. Mmm, have some napkins ready! (I had already put the camera away at this point)
Tags: Recipes, Savory Breads
These pretzels look fabulous! And what beautiful photography!! Food is the perfect photographical subject, if you ask me.
Great photos. These look tasty. I had a horrible attempt at pretzels last week, so you are giving me a nudge to try again.
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
I would do it again. I have done pretzels before, but not with boiling first. I suppose that is what makes the shell more “bagel-like” and like a “ball field or Aunt Annie’s” pretzel. The baked only pretzels turned out more like a breadstick.
My experience has nudged me to try homemade bagels too. I have seen some very tasty recipes for them… and I am all about Panera without the cost! Thanks for visiting!
These look so wonderful! I love soft pretzels. I posted a link to your blog on my edible crafts column (part of a post on homemade pretzels). You can see your post at ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com. Hopefully you’ll get even more clicks to share this idea. Thanks! meaghan
Hi this blog is great I will be recommending it to friends.