Cheater Soft Pretzel Bites

On the theory that "dough is dough," I thought I would try making soft pretzel bites out of frozen pizza dough that I had hanging around. I've made pretzel bites once before from scratch, and they were delicious. I'm not crafty enough to be good at shaping dough, so the bites are much easier.

I also have amassed a collection of gourmet salts, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to use those. Hence:

Pink sea salt, Hawaiian black lava salt, and smoked applewood salt.

The verdict:

Considering that these cost about $1 to make (I used half a package of frozen pizza dough that cost $1.99), and for minimal effort I can have fresh, hot soft pretzels...I approve. The dough probably wasn't as great-tasting as scratch-made, but...whatever. I also wish I could get that deep dark brown that "real pretzels" have, but I think you have to boil them in lye to get that. Eeek!! Now--could I taste the difference between the salts? Not particularly. But I think the black salt won at least on texture...nicely crunchy.


Cheater Soft Pretzel Bites

Frozen pizza dough, thawed (1/2 of the package I bought made around 50 bites)
3/4 cup baking soda
1 egg
Coarse salt

- Shape the thawed dough into a thin rope. Cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Boil a large pot of water & add baking soda.
- Drop in the dough pieces (in batches); boil for about 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon, remove to parchment-lined sheet pans.
- Preheat oven to 425. Beat egg with 1 Tbl water.
- Brush bites with egg wash & sprinkle with salt.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until deep golden brown.

Serve with honey mustard for dipping. Next time I might try a cheese sauce too.