Soft Pretzels & Nacho Cheese

Pretzels

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.


2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.


3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.


4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.


5. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

**** These were a HUGE hit. They tasted so much like Pretzel Time's pretzels. It made fifteen just like the recipe said and they were gone really fast. I don't recommend this for a quick meal. The dough takes about two hours to rise, and then shaping the dough and everything takes some time. It's not too much work, just requires lots of time. But everyone that loves soft pretzels will LOVE these.

I'm not sure what dipping the dough in baking soda and water does, but do it. I wouldn't change anything about this recipe because they turned out so good!!

Nacho Cheese

1 Tbs Flour

1 Tbs butter

1/2 Cup Milk

5-7 Slices of Pepper Jack Cheese

Directions

First of all...Make a roux. Melt the butter and stir in the flour over low heat. Next, add milk and continue stirring. Next, add the PepperJack Cheese. Stir constantly until cheese is melted. It will seem very thin, but as it cools it will thicken.

****Jeff looked up some recipes and found how to make nacho cheese and decided to do it out of the PepperJack Cheese. We thought it was great. We ate it with chips while we were waiting for the pretzels to bake, but the pretzels and the nacho cheese were great as well. I definitely recommend making this awesome dip for any parties or anytime you just want a good snack.