Sunday afternoon playdate bread

My son had a play date over lunch time. Dilemma - what to feed two picky eaters. I remembered something we did in preschool. Pretzels. This recipe is simplified version of pretzels. I don’t boil them so I guess they are just rolls. I served them with strawberry preserve and sometimes my son sprinkles them with sugar crystals.
Normally, I have my son help me measure, pour and mix the dough, but I was worried about two boys in my small kitchen. So today, I pre-mixed the dough, let it rise and then called them over to shape the dough. The dough was a little sticky, so I had them shape it directly on the cooking pan.
I baked them, let them cool and sure enough, the boys each ate two. Served with a yogurt smoothie, cheese and apple slices, they were able to play another 1 ½ hours with no fights!

Materials:
1 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 ¾ cups sifted organic whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoon soft butter
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:
In large bowl combine water, yeast and sugar
Let sit until dissolved
Add 1 ½ cup flour, butter and salt
Mix at least 3 minutes
Stir in remaining flour
Kneed until dough loses stickiness
Transfer to greased bowl and let rise until at least 2 time size.
Punch down and divide into 12 pieces.
Arrange into pleasing shapes (see my son’s shark image)
Place on greased baking sheets
Let rise until 2 times size (sometimes I skip this depending on how hungry they are)
Preheat oven to 475
Bake until crispy and browned, about 8-10 minutes.
Cool a few minute and serve.
Keep leftovers in airtight container for up to 1 week.