Homemade Pretzels

As promised, here is the recipe for the homemade pretzels that I mentioned the other day.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg. yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 tbsp. sugar
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt, plus enough for tops
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, flour, and salt. Mix well, then knead dough until it is smooth and soft. Roll and twist dough into desired shapes - letters, numbers, twists, etc. Lay the pretzel dough shapes onto two greased cookie sheets. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until golden. Makes 1 - 2 dozen, depending on size.
From "Simple Pleasures of Home" by Susannah Seton.

I remembered to get the camera out while the kids were doing the pretzels. They certainly had fun! If you look closely at the pictures on this scrapbook page, you will notice that my oldest daughter is MIA. She was there, but is going through this funny phase of not wanting her picture taken. If I am lucky enough to snap one, it either has her hand up in front of the lense or she is scowling. Since I knew she would hate all of the pictures I got, I didn't use any of them except the big one on the right of her hands. I didn't want her seeing me use a bad picture for fear that she would become even MORE camera shy.

I am happy to say that I immediately had an ideas of how this page should be put together and it wasn't even scraplifted :-) (see posts below). I used FotoFusion to put it together because it is ideal for laying out grid type layouts. Saved me bunches of time in cropping and spacing and trying to get everything even. All of the elements (technically doodads!) are from Mo Jackson (www.mojackson.com). The alpha is from her Annie's Scrapbox kit and everything else is from Dorothy's Kitchen 1 & 2.

If you are interested, the journaling reads:

January 6, 2006:
The children and I spent a fun afternoon in the kitchen today. Last night, I was reading a library book and stumbled upon recipes for both homemade crackers and soft pretzels. They sounded fun AND easy so I bookmarked them. I got the bug to try them out today and got the kids involved. The little ones were the most enthusiastic. Anything that hands on that has the possibility of being messy is definitely their thing! The pretzels were certainly the favorite and gave us the opportunity to discuss yeast as a living organism and letter shapes. Patrick, of course, wanted to make a "P." He also made some creative eyewear, as well. Abi loved making snakes and some unconventional pretzel shapes while the girls made their initials and traditional looking pretzels. They were incredibly yummy to eat fresh out of the oven! The best part is that everyone joined in the clean-up, so the whole experience was fun for Mommy, too!

Thanks for looking!