{Food & Gardening} Gluten Free Soft Pretzels

Remember going to Pretzel Time in the mall and the smell of those butter covered soft pretzels calling you from no matter how far away from them you were? I do, and now I dread going to the mall to have to smell those horribly unhealthy, but oh so good pieces of bread torturing me the whole time. So I made it a mission to make myself some equally great soft pretzels but gluten free. I tried a few recipes and nothing was as good as this mix. It’s actually a semi-homemade food which is even better for the busy moms trying to please their gluten free kiddos.

Ingredients

• Namaste Gluten free bread mix (comes with a yeast packet)
• 1/4 cup So Delicious Unsweetened coconut milk
• water
• oil
• salt
• extra gluten free flour for dusting and creating the pretzels

Preparation

Follow the directions on the package for making the bread. The recipe calls for eggs, but I used extra oil to substitute for the eggs. Let the dough rise with a wet paper towel or cloth on top for about 30 minutes. Take the extra baking flour and dust the area you’d like to use to roll out the pretzels. Dust your hands with the flour as well; it’s sticky! Roll the lump of dough about the size of your fist into a snake shape and then shape into a pretzel. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and let the pretzels cook on an ungreased baking sheet for about 20 minutes. Then take them out and brush the tops with oil and sprinkle on some salt. Put them back in for another 15-20 minutes checking to see that they’re cooked but not burnt on the bottoms. If you’re worried about them burning on the bottoms you can add some parchment paper to your baking sheet and slightly turn down the heat of the oven, but cook a few more minutes.

This bread mix also makes great hard rolls (like the ones you look forward to when you go out to eat!) You can store these at room temperature and warm them up in the microwave if you like them on the warm side. Now I had a request for pizza a few weeks ago, and this bread mix would make a great pizza crust. I’d roll it out like you would a regular pizza crust and add as many toppings as you want and bake until crispy and to your liking.

Enjoy! Erin (antiquetochic)