It's a sad week this week as we have reached the final of The Great British Bake Off.  I am really going to miss watching it on T.V but it certainly wont be the end of my baking.
I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in The Great Bloggers Bake Off, and am looking forward to continuing on my baking journey and learning lots more.
It hasn't just been about baking though.  While taking part I have made some wonderful new friends and have received amazing support from all of the other bakers taking part, especially Helen and Jenny who have been running the Bake Off and taking the time to look at everyone's bakes each week, and making the difficult 'star baker' decisions.

The Great British Bake Off Final saw the contestants being challenged with Picnic Pies, Pretzels and Wedding Cakes.
Ideally I would have loved to bake and decorate a cake but I just haven't had the time, so I have decided to make soft pretzels instead.  Not only that ...... I have decided to make both sweet (cinnamon spice) and savoury (rock salt)!
After looking at a few recipes I decided to wing it be brave and come up with my own.  It took a couple of attempts to perfect it, but I am very pleased with the final results.
So, here is my recipe for you to try for yourself.

Rock Salt Pretzels 

Ingredients

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cold water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon of active dry yeast

5 to 6 cups plain flour (plus a little extra for dusting)

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons oil (sunflower or vegetable)

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 large egg

Rock Salt (or coarse salt)

Cooking Oil Spray



Method

1.  Pour 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup cold water into a medium sized bowl.  Add the sugar and stir until it        has dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast on to the water and whisk thoroughly.  Leave the yeast mixture to stand      for 20-30 minutes, until a froth has appeared on the top.

2.  Add 1 cup of flour to the yeast mixture and stir until combined.  Then add your salt and 4 more cups of          flour.  Mix together until combined and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Add another          half cup of flour and knead the dough by hand until combined.  If the dough is still quite sticky then you          can add another half cup of flour.  Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until your          dough is smooth.

3.  Pour the oil into a large bowl and coat the sides of the bowl with the oil.  Place the dough into the bowl          and then turn it to ensure it is coated with oil.  Once this is done place a tea-towel over the bowl and              leave to stand for 1 hour so that the dough can rise. (It should double in size)

4.  Pre heat your oven to 220 degrees and lightly spray your baking trays with the cooking spray oil.  I found      that even though you are oiling the trays you need to use non-stick trays otherwise your pretzels will stick.      Set the trays aside, uncover the dough and punch it down to remove the bubbles.  Then turn the dough          out on to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.  Divide the dough into approximately 16 pieces.

5.  Using one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough into a long strip.  Twist the dough in to a pretzel shape      and place on to your prepared trays.  Once you have filled each tray cover it with a tea-towel and leave        the pretzels to rise for another 10-15 minutes.  (To make the pretzel shape make an upside down horse        shoe and then lift the end of the dough on the left hand side and fold it over the right.  Do this twice to            form your twist and then lift the two ends of dough to the top of the upside down horse shoe and this            should create your pretzel shape).

6.  While the pretzels are rising fill a large saucepan with around 2 inches of water and bring to the boil.  Add      the baking powder but beware ..... this is going to make the water bubble up, and possibly over your pan      so you may want to remove it from your stove briefly while adding this.  Reduce the water to a simmer          and then poach each pretzel in the water for 1 minute.  Once that minute is up, remove the pretzel using a      slotted spoon and place back on the tray.  Do this until you have poached all of your pretzels.

7.  Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush this over the pretzels to glaze them.  Then sprinkle            each pretzel with a few pieces of the rock salt and place them in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the              pretzels are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Rock Salt Pretzels

These pretzels have a crunch on the outside and are lovely and soft on the inside. But, if like me you have more of a sweet tooth, then you can adapt the recipe slightly to create cinnamon spice pretzels.
All you need to do is replace the tablespoon of salt with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of mixed spice.  Then instead of sprinkling the pretzels with rock salt, sprinkle them with muscovado sugar.
Making these simple changes creates a lovely sweet pretzel, and I found that the sweet pretzel has more of a 'snap' to it too.

Cinnamon Spice Pretzels

I hope you enjoy making your pretzels as much as I did.  It really was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
Go on ....... give it a try .......

Missy xx