On Tuesday, our area had a lot of water. A LOT of water. My driveway became a raging torrent when the stream beside it overflowed. The fields to the west and south of me were lakes, fed by streams of water coming from several directions. The ground became so inundated that water came into my basement (thankfully not from the creek); although I keep things off the floor, the water level kept getting deeper and deeper in the laundry room area of the basement. The other side, which is four inches higher, began to develop its own issues as water started seeping through the floor. Then excess water from the laundry room side began to flood the other side, too. What a mess! Thankfully, I had neighbors that came and helped me once the rain stopped and I had a driveway again.
I thought I was doing okay. There was still a lot of cleanup to take care of, but it seemed manageable. That is until I came home on Thursday after lunch and a movie with a friend only to find a collapsed cabinet on the laundry side. On top of that cabinet were boxes and boxes of books and other stuff that were supposed to be there temporarily. My late husband planned to rebuild the bookshelves he had torn out of the other side of the basement. (After his multiple myeloma diagnosis the remodel was never completed.) The top of this cabinet had been a hobby table with the countertop deeper than the cabinet itself, leaving a kneehole area at the back. My sewing room moved upstairs after our children moved out; since I did not use the table very often, it seemed a good storage spot.
I stored plastic tubs full of seldom-used items under the backside of the countertop. Their presence kept the cabinet from falling all the way backward, thus tumbling all the contents into the floor. I managed to remove the boxes of books without any more catastrophes. I had been planning to go through them anyway because I knew there were several that I didn’t want anymore. My church was having a rummage sale on Saturday, which meant I had a place to donate the books and several other items. A different neighbor helped me sort through the books, which was another blessing.
One of the best parts of the week happened on Saturday; my son Jonathan came to help me deal with the cabinet, and he carried the books I was keeping to a place I had prepared on the other side of the basement. He also changed the spark plugs in my minivan.
While Jonathan was working on that task, I spent time with his children. Vivian (7) and Elijah (2) were eager helpers in the kitchen – we prepared dough for Pretzel Bites and then ate lunch while we waited for it to rest for thirty minutes. After our meal, we rolled half the dough into logs, cut it in pieces as instructed, and then dropped the pieces into a baking soda and water bath. We did the same with the other half, except we made 3-inch logs instead of bites. Our pretzels turned out to be delicious!
April is National Soft Pretzel Month, and it was a special treat to have Vivian and Elijah here to help me try out a new recipe. Personally, I liked the log-sized pretzels better than the bite-sized ones. Vivian enjoyed dipping hers in Ruby Red Pretzel Dip, so I am including that recipe, too.
Pretzel Bites
Dough:
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
7/8 to 1 cup warm water*
*Use more in winter, lesser in summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.
Topping:
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons baking soda
Coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
cinnamon-sugar, optional
To make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead dough, by hand or machine, about 5 minutes, until it’s soft, smooth, and quite slack. Flour the dough and place it in a plastic bag; allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
To make dough with a bread machine: Place all dough ingredients into pan of bread machine, program for dough or manual; press “Start.” Allow dough to proceed through kneading cycle (no need to let it rise). Cancel the machine, flour dough, and proceed as instructed above.
While dough is resting, prepare topping: Combine boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally dissolved. Set mixture aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray, or lining with parchment paper. Grease the parchment with vegetable oil spray to make double-sure the bites won’t stick.
Transfer dough to a lightly greased work surface (we used waxed paper instead); divide it into six equal pieces.
Roll the pieces of dough into 12 to 15-inch ropes. Cut each rope crosswise into about 12 pieces. (Kitchen shears work nicely for this step.) For logs, cut ropes into 3 or 4 equal-length pieces.
Pour cooled baking soda solution into a pan large enough to hold the bites. Place bites into solution, gently swish them around, and leave them for a couple of minutes. Transfer to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet; top with pretzel salt, kosher salt, or sea salt.
Bake bites for 10 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven; roll in melted butter.
For cinnamon-sugar pretzels, omit salt on top and toss with cinnamon-sugar once the bites are rolled butter.
Place on a rack. Store bites, well-wrapped, at room temperature. Reheat briefly before serving.
Yield: about 6 dozen bites.
I adapted the pretzel recipe from one I found on King Arthur’s website.
Ruby Red Pretzel Dip
1 (16-ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cold water
In saucepan, combine the first seven ingredients; whisk over medium heat
until smooth. Combine flour and cold water until smooth; add to
cranberry mixture. Bring to boil; cook and stir for two minutes. Add red
food coloring if desired. Cover and chill overnight. Yield: 2 cups.