My mom receives tons of cooking and baking magazines and catalogs each month. One of my favorites to look through is the King Arthur Flour one. Besides the delicious mixes and adorable kitchen accessories they feature some delicious sounding recipes. When it comes to holiday events their recipes do not disappoint. They have some great ones to help you get ready for St. Patrick’s Day like Irish Raisin Bread, Four Leaf Clover Rolls, Chocolate Stout Cake and St. Pat’s Pistachio Cookies. My favorite has to be the sourdough pretzel recipe which I thought was perfect accompaniment for all the beer drinking this weekend! 

Pretzel Ingredients
¾ cup lukewarm water
1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator
3 cups flour
¼ cup baker’s special dry milk or nonfat dry milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Topping Ingredients
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
pretzel salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
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 rest for 45 minutes. It will rise minimally. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
3.    Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface, fold it over a few times to gently deflate it, then divide it into 12 pieces, each weighing about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 ounces.
4.    Roll each piece of dough into an 18" rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel.
5.    Dissolve the malt in the water. Brush the pretzels with the solution, and sprinkle lightly with pretzel salt.
6.    Bake the pretzels for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Note: This is correct; there's no need to let the shaped pretzels rise before baking.
7.    Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush with melted butter.

And if you want a great step-by-step picture tutorial to go along with your directions you can check out King Arthur Flour’s blog post about making these delicious pretzels. Well I am off to go and chase down a leprechaun this weekend at the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach with my friends! 

What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this weekend? Have an amazing weekend!!

xoxo
Megan

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