#2,687: No Yeast Soft Pretzels

I always love a good warm soft pretzel.  But I am not a patient, yeast-using type of cook, so I was looking for an easy recipe that I could use that omitted it.  We whipped this recipe together really quickly, and I gave each of the kids enough dough to make 2 pretzels.  You would think I was torturing them asking them to roll out logs of dough.  Once they were done and put into a semi-pretzel shape, we coated half of them with an egg wash and salt, and the other half was coated with cinnamon and sugar.  It was a 50/50 split vote whether we liked the salty or sweet pretzels.  Both were good though.  These are a bit dense (but I expected that!), but still pretty good.  I don't think these compare to a good soft pretzel, but for a quick, easy recipe, I thought they were ok! 

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cups milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

topping suggestions: coarse salt, cinnamon, sugar, toasted sesame seeds, etc. 

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Stir together the first six ingredients to make a soft dough.

Sprinkle 2 tbsp of flour on the counter. Divide dough into two balls. Knead it. Put bowl upside down over balls for 15 minutes.

Divide each ball into four balls, resulting in eight total balls. Roll each ball into a long rope, about a foot in length and form into pretzel shape.

Spray cookie sheet and place pretzels on pan.  Beat egg and brush over pretzels. Sprinkle on your desired topping.

Place in the oven for 9-11 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.