soft pretzles

Gregory found a recipe for soft pretzels in a 'Home Hardware' magazine. I thought that was kind of funny, but the pretzels were really tasty.To make the soft pretzels you will need:
2 cups warm water
2 -8 g packages quick rising yeast
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup melted margarine
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
5 cups flour
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp cold water
coarse salt

Measure 2 cups of warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast & stir until dissolved

Add sugar, salt, margarine, egg and only three cups of flour. Beat until smooth then add in another 1 -1/2 cups of flour.

Knead the dough, adding additional flour, if necessary, to make the dough smooth and elastic, not sticky.
Gregory also added about 1 cup grated sharp cheddar into the dough.
Place the ball of dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.
Lift the dough from the bowl and place on lightly floured board. Cut the dough into 40 equal pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into an 18 inch pencil thin strip.Shape the dough by folding it like human arms with a hand on each shoulder. Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush each pretzel with the egg & water mixture & sprinkle with the coarse salt.
Bake in 350*F oven for 15 -18 minutes or until golden brown.
We had so much fun making these! I was making the soup, Greg was making the pretzels, and of course all the kids wanted to roll and shape their own pretzels! Try the pretzels with a bit of mustard - delicious!