Instructions: This recipe for pretzels uses traditional Irish soda bread dought instead of a yeast based dough. Its quick and works great! The pretzels come out excellent-like the street vendor type. I hope you enjoy...

Combine water and soda in a non-aluminum pot (Corning works well). Heat to a boil or until all soda dissolves. Take off heat and set aside. This will be your dipping solution.

Preheat oven to 400 deg F
Sift flours and soda together and mix homogeneously. Add honey and slowly add buttermilk while working with hands until it is a firm dough. With a pin, roll dought into a flat sheet. Cut dough in long strips to make large pretzel twists, or cut into bite sized pieces (like I do!). Dip the prepared pieces of dough completely into the dipping solution. This will create the brown crunchy pretzel shell. Once dipped, place on an oven rack

(if bite sized pieces are being made, cover the rack with aluminum foil and spray with PAM). Sprinkle with course salt if desired.

Cook for 10 minutes of until dark brown on the second oven rack from the bottom.

This method works great. Pretzels are basically regular bread dough dipped in a baking soda solution before baking. The advantage to this method is that soda bread, a quick bread, has no yeast and does not require the time needed for rising before cooking. As soon as the dought is made, it is ready for the oven! Walt MM

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