Good morning Dubbers.  Welcome to the midway point of the 2017 season.  This week’s installment comes to you a little bit early, as I have a day loaded with pesky work related activities.  Seeing as how I bring you the TGF with limited commercial interruption, I haven’t been able to quit my day job.

Season 3 finds 3M and Mrs 3M expanding their horizons for new ideas to share.  And, sometimes you just have to bring it back to basics, KISS – keep it simple, stupid.

This week I am delivering to you an easy recipe that will make you happy you tried it.  It will make you even happier next week when I drop the ‘so what’ accompaniment.

PRETZEL BITES

INGREDIENTS

Dough:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup warm water

Topping:
1 cup very hot water
2 tablespoons baking soda
Kosher or sea salt
3 tablespoons melted butter

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees.
• In the bowl of your mixer, sift together flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.
• Add in 1 cup of very warm water and use the dough hook to mix it well. You could also do this by hand or use a food processor.
• Knead the dough until it is smooth.
• Sprinkle flour in the bottom of a bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and cover it. Allow it to sit for about 30 minutes to rise.
• After 30 minutes, knead the dough for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Divide the dough into 4 equal sections. Form each section into strips about 8 inches long and about 1 inch wide.
• Cut each strip into about 6-8 pieces. You should end up with 24-32 pretzel bites.
• In a shallow dish (read: cake pan), combine the very hot water with the baking soda and stir to dissolve (microwave the water for 2 minutes, but the original recipe said boil the water on the stovetop).
• Place the pretzel bites in the water/baking soda mixture and allow to sit for one minute. Then flip the pretzel bites and allow to sit in the mixture for one minute longer. Arrange the pretzel bites on a greased baking sheet.
• Allow the pretzel bites to rest for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle with a bit of kosher or sea salt before baking them for 10-11 minutes, or until the pretzel bites are nice and brown!
• While the pretzel bites are baking, melt 3 tablespoons of butter (1 minute in the microwave).
• When the pretzel bites are done baking, immediately brush each bite with melted butter. Keep brushing the bites with butter until it is all gone.
• Serve with your favorite dip!

PRO TIPS

Mrs 3m took some of them and dusted them with garlic salt, and they were delicious.

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Don’t forget, the community extravaganza is coming up in two weeks.  Do you want to post a guest recipe?  Hit me up on the contact link with your best, and I’ll pick one to post…provided there are two or more responses.  I don’t want to post Star Cat’s tuna casserole recipe this year.  DJ doesn’t even cook it…
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Previous Editions

Week 1 – Bacon Wrapped Pickles
Week 2 – Chipotle Hummus
Week 3 – Chili Mac
Week 4 – Spinach Dip
Week 5 – Crock Pot Potato Soup

2015 & 2016 Recipes can be found here.