There are so many benefits to having your kid in the kitchen with you. In addition to the bonding that can occur while you’re baking, your child also gets to learn about mixing, measuring, and how ingredients interact with each other. And if your child is attempting to learn the alphabet, they can eat their words (literally) when you make ABC pretzels together for a tasty treat.
As far as foods to serve up when your kid comes home from school, pretzels are a pretty decent snack. Sure, they can be high in carbs and salt if eaten in excess, but in their defense, they’re also baked (and not fried), which puts them slightly above greasy potato chips. Plus, if you take into consideration that you’ll be crafting letters out of the dough to make these ABC pretzels, then you’re scoring some study time, too. Let your child twist them into different shapes prior to baking so that they not only build their fine motor skills, but also boost their literacy skills as well. This is a great way to build confidence in the kitchen, and hopefully carve the way for adventurous eating in the future.
ABC Pretzels
Ingredients
- 4 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 tsp. white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- kosher salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar in the warm water.
- Let stand until yeast is activated, which can take between 10-15 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt together until well blended.
- Add the oil and yeast mixture, mixing until it forms into dough.
- Add 1-2 tbsp. of water at a time if the dough does not come together.
- Once formed, knead the dough for 6 minutes, or until smooth.
- Coat a large bowl with about 2 tbsp. of oil.
- Place the dough in the bowl, and coat with oil.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise in a warm place for about one hour until the dough has doubled in size.
- Lightly flour your work surface.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda in 4 cups very hot water.
- Lightly flour your work surface.
- Remove dough from bowl and divide into equal parts.
- Take one piece of dough and roll into a rope shape, then twist into an alphabet letter.
- Once all the dough pieces have been formed into letters, dip each one into the hot water and place pretzels on baking sheets.
- Sprinkle with kosher salt, and bake until done, about 7 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool, and serve with your favorite dipping sauces, like melted cheese, mustard, hummus, etc.