Homemade Rosemary Sea Salt Soft Pretzels

We love our pizza dough recipe and love that's it's so versatile. We use it for pizzas, cinnamon buns and we recently discovered that we can use it to make soft pretzels! We must say, these were definitely a hit during the holiday season. They are perfect served with dipping sauces and can be made in any shape. We made them two ways, pretzel knots for dipping and traditional pretzels for a perfect snack size. 

Vegan Rosemary Sea Salt Soft Pretzels

Makes 8 large pretzels or 24 pretzel knots

Ingredients

1 cup lukewarm water

1/2 tbsp dry active yeast

2 tbsp white granulated sugar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cups white bread flour

pinch of sea salt

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 tbsp coarse sea salt

1/4 cup melted vegan butter

6 cups of water

2 tbsp baking soda

Method

1. Add water, yeast, oil and sugar to a small bowl. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to allow yeast to activate. 
2. Combine flour, salt and rosemary in a large bowl. Add in yeast mixture and mix until well combined. Do not over mix. 
3. Form dough into a ball and place in a large bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel. set aside for 60 minutes to allow the dough to rise. 
4. Preheat oven to 450F.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead to remove air. Add additional flour as needed if the dough is too sticky. Do not overwork the dough. 
6. Divide dough in 8 even balls for large pretzels or 24 balls for pretzel knots. 
7. To make large pretzels, roll out the dough to form snake-like shapes. Place in a U and form into a pretzel shape. Keep aside on a well-floured surface. 
8. For pretzel knows, roll out the dough to form snake-like shapes. Tie the dough rope into a knot and place on a well-floured surface.
9. Once all pretzels have been shaped, add water and baking soda to a large pot and bring to a boil. Drop pretzels, one or two at a time, in the boiling water and boil for 30 seconds each. Remove pretzels from the water and return to baking tray line with parchment paper or baking tray coated with cooking spray. Continue the process until all pretzels are complete. You can reshape the pretzels once on the tray if their shape was altered during the transition. 
10. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse sea salt and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with melted butter. Serve with your favourite dipping sauces.