Alisha Henderson Pretzel Party

Pretzels:

• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 sachet active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp packed CSR Brown Sugar
• 2 ¼ cups White Wings Plain Flour, plus more for kneading
• 2 tbsp softened butter
• 1 tsp fine salt

Cheesy Mustard Dip (optional):

• 1 cup tasty cheese
• ¼ cup yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 50g butter
• ¼ cup cream

1. Warm the milk & buttermilk in a saucepan to 43°C - (lukewarm if you don’t have a thermometer!) Pour into a large mixing bowl. Then, sprinkle dry yeast over the top, allow to soften for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup of plain flour with a wooden spoon. Add in the butter, remaining flour & salt and stir.
3. Tip the dough out onto the lightly floured bench, and begin to knead. Knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth with a little bit of tackiness.
4. Grease a bowl with butter and place the dough in, cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for 1hr until doubled in size.
5. Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Take the dough out, give it a quick punch down and cut it into 6 large pieces.
6. Take 1 piece and begin to roll into a very long sausage. We need it to be around 60-70cm. Once rolled, bring the two ends in, wrap them in a twist, then stick each end down towards the centre of the dough to form a pretzel shape (see video for reference) Repeat with all pieces.
7. Place the pretzels with enough room to rise on some lined baking trays (I did 2-3 per tray) cover with cling film and allow to proof 10 more minutes. If you want to add some coffee sugar, cheese or other toppings you can do that here.
8. Bake for 10-13 minutes (no longer!) and remove from oven.
9. Eat warm!! Prepare any toppings you wish, like chocolate glaze or cheesy mustard dip and eat these straight from the oven.
10. Pretzels are best on the day, and should be warmed in microwave if they have cooled down.

For the mustard dip:

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat and gently melt. Serve hot and dunk pretzels in!