cheezy playdate pretzel

It seems like we have been having unending play dates. My son is on number 4 for this week. And it’s only Wednesday. He also enjoys epic play dates. Today’s is scheduled from 3:30 to 8, plus we had some much welcome drop in’s. Ever since I read Kingsolver’s local food book, I have wanted to try making pizza from scratch. But my son requested play date pretzels. So I did both. But I added cheese to the pretzels for extra protein and lowered the baking heat so the cheese wouldn’t burn. I think these would be really good dipped in the pizza sauce.

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
½ cup shredded cheese
Parchment paper

Directions:
In large bowl combine water, yeast and sugar
Let sit until dissolved
Add 1 ½ cup flour, butter and salt
Mix until combined
Add cheese
Stir in remaining flour
Kneed until dough loses stickiness
Add more flour if necessary
Transfer to greased bowl and let rise until at least 2 time size (at lease ½ hour)
Punch down and divide into 12 pieces.
Arrange into pleasing shapes
Place parchment paper on baking sheets
Place pretzels on parchment paper
Let rise until 2 times size (sometimes I skip this depending on how hungry they are)
Preheat oven to 425
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.