Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels

Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels

Soft, delicious pretzels with a sprinkly of warming cinnamon sugar - what's not to love!

Ingredients:

Pretzel dough:

• 350ml whole milk (warm)
• 4 tbsp caster sugar
• 7g (1 packet) dried instant yeast
• 30g butter (melted)
• 1 tsp salt
• 500g strong white bread flour

Soda water bath:

• 1.5l water
• 10tsp baking soda

Topping:

• 30g butter (melted)
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon 

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the warm milk, 1 tbsp of the caster sugar, and the yeast, and leave for 10 minutes until it forms a light foam on top. 
2. Then, mix in the rest of the sugar, the butter and the salt.
3. Add the bread flour, and mix until it comes together to form a dough, then transfer onto a lightly floured worktop.
4. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes by hand, or use a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment. The dough will be quite sticky to start with but don't be tempted to add extra flour, it will come together through kneading. 
5. Once it is smooth, form it into a bowl and leave to rise in a lightly oiled, covered bowl for around an hour, or until doubled in size. 
6. Punch down the dough, and divide it into 8 equal sized pieces. It it best to weigh them to be accurate. 
7. Roll each piece into a thin rope, around 50cm in length. Start from the middle of the rop and roll towards the edges to get an even thickness. 
8. To form the pretzel shape, bring the ends together to form a teardrop shape, twist the ends over each other twice, and then fold the ends back over the curve of the rope.
9. Repeat this will all of the 8 pieces of dough, and place them onto a lined baking tray (you may need two trays).
10. Leave them uncovered to rise for about 20 minutes, then transfer them to the fridge for another 15 minutes. 
11. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 200 C (fan).
12. Prepare the water bath.  Bring the water to a boil, and add the baking soda.
13. Let each pretzel simmer for 10 seconds each, then remove them from the water with a slotted spatula letting as much water drain as possible before returning to the baking tray. 
14. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until a lovely golden brown. 
15. Leave to cool on the tray until they are still warm, but cool enough to touch, and then transfer to a wire rack.
16. While they are still warm, brush with melted butter, and then dip each pretzel into a shallow bowl of the cinnamon sugar. 
17. Enjoy!