A delicious snack does not always have to involve tea! I have started a sourdough starter (for the second time) and it is going much better! The secret for me seems to be using filtered water and changing out the jar often. From the sourdough starter, our favorite recipe is for soft pretzels! We use this recipe.
I love watching the dough kneed in the mixer and then the surprise of seeing how much it rises in just a couple hours! This recipe uses both the sourdough starter and active rise yeast which makes the soft dough much more reliant and puff up quickly. After the dough rises, you roll it into a snake like play dough and either chop it to make pretzel nuggets or wrap it up to make a typical pretzel shape. Then you boil it in a pot of water and baking soda. This is what creates the pretzel crust. I usually boil it a bit longer than the recipe says. The final step before the oven is an egg or water wash and your desired toppings. We usually do coarse salt but have also waited to add butter and cinnamon sugar after the pretzels are baked to turn them in to dessert!
This past weekend, baby T loved watching the pretzels in the oven. They turned out golden brown! If you have a sourdough starter, I would love to hear about your favorite discard recipe. Learning new sourdough recipes is just starting to be “my cup of tea!”
