Pretzel Buns

**Pretzel Buns**

Seems like a lot of places are doing pretzel buns this summer so I decided to do some searching on Pinterest to find a recipe. They turned out really good. I will be making them again soon (may do hamburger buns tomorrow)

Here's the link to the recipe I used and I will post pictures of me making them.

http://www.bitememore.com/feedme/253/the-terry-richardson-soft-pretzel-bun-recipe

I didn't get a picture of my yeast starting but you'll need to let your yeast water and sugar sit for 10 minutes or so until it's frothy.

Mix the flour, melted butter and salt with the dough hook on your mixer for about 5 minutes. If you don't have a KitchenAid you could knead this on your counter for a few minutes

 

Put your dough in a greased bowl cover and let it rest in a warm area for 45 minutes. I covered it with a wet towel and stuck it outside. I also put a plastic bag over the top so the towel didn't dry.

It should about double in size

Dump dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball

Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Look at how fluffy the dough looks. I was pretty excited at it's fluffiness, but I'm a dork that way.    :)

Roll in to logs about 7 inches long and let rest for 10 minutes. While it's resting get 16 cups of water boiling in a big pot.

They will get puffy or at least should if they don't you did something wrong :)

When the water boils dump in your 1/2 cup of baking soda. Yes it takes 1/2 cup so double check you have enough. I didn't and had to run to the store and put $0.85 on my credit card

Boil 2 at a time for 30 seconds

Cut shallow slits in the top, brush with egg and sprinkle with a coarse salt. I didn't have pretzel salt so I just used more kosher salt.

Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes make sure to either use parchment paper or grease your pan really well

Cut the ends off to fit your hot dog and cut down the middle.

Enjoy

Tish

My New Favorite Ice Cream Recipe

My New Favorite Ice Cream Recipe

I love making homemade ice cream  all year but I especially love making it in the summer. I have weeks where I make 3 batches of ice cream a week. I have tried a bunch of different recipes but I have found a new favorite.

Curlymomma's #1 Ice Cream

1/2 gal fat free or low fat chocolate milk

1 container cool whip (light if you can find it)

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

Mix it all up and pour in your ice cream maker. If your ice cream maker is as small as mine DO NOT put the whole batch in it, it will overflow

I took my left over mix and put it in a zip top freezer baggie and put it in the freezer and it worked too so if you don't have an ice cream maker you can just throw it in the baggie and freeze it.

You can try this one too

1/2 gal fat free or low fat plain milk

1 container cool whip

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

flavor of your choice (example, vanilla or mint extract)

Mix it all up freeze in ice cream maker add in what ever mix ins you want

Here's my good ol' standby

2 cups low fat or fat free milk

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

1 box instant pudding of your choice. (try coconut and add in once it is all done

 coconut, toasted almonds and chopped up chocolate chips)

Mix it all up (all but the mix ins, put those in after the ice cream is done churning) and put in your ice cream maker.

Hope you enjoy these recipes I know we do in our family

If you have a KitchenAid you need this ice cream maker!! I love it

My favorite ice cream topping right now. That's right it is Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!

Grilled Pizza... Yes on a grill outside and no it won't fall through the grates. Trust me

Grilled Pizza!!

Yes you can do this!!!

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to grill pizza. In fact I do pizza on the grill so much during the summer that I'm pretty sure every time I do a big grocery shopping trip I pick up stuff to make it. Anytime I tell people that I cook my pizza on the grill I always get confused looks so I thought I'd do a photo step by step tutorial on how to do it. It really does taste amazing it reminds me a lot of brick oven pizza, so until I get my brick oven built (yes I really do want to build one in my backyard) we will have to just enjoy our pizza cooked on the grill. One last thing before I go on. I use our gas grill I've never tried it on the charcoal because I'm always worried about the coals being too hot but if you are a charcoal master I know you could make it work on there. Who knows maybe I will get over it and try it soon.

First you need to make your dough. I don't ever buy the box or bag dough mixes at the store. Pizza dough is so easy to make and it tastes soooo much better that I just make it from scratch.  You could easily make the dough the night or day before and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready for it. This is the recipe I use http://americanfood.about.com/od/pizzainsideandout/r/nypd.htm

Once your dough is ready roll it out to whatever size. Sometimes I do one or two big pizzas sometimes I let everyone make their own and do a bunch of little pizzas

Next transfer your dough to the hot grill and turn the grill down to lowish. I've used everything from a cutting cutting board or cookie sheet to just rolling the dough around the rolling pin and unrolling it onto the grill. The rolling pin method has actually been my method of choice lately. One days I will have one of those fancy pizza peels.

Once the dough has set up and is as dark as you want it take it off the grill and flip it so the grill marks are on top. You can top it however you want, right now I've been on a taco pizza kick. Actually that is what I will be making for supper tonight.

Place your pizza back on the grill and shut the lid to finish cooking. And that is really all their is to it. A couple of things I forgot to mention. I do not spray my grill with anything before I put the dough on. You can if you think you need to but I've never had it stick. To get the pizza off the grill I will either use a big bbq flipper or will slide a cutting board (or my pizza peel when I get one) under the pizza and lift it off.

Once cheese is melted it is all done and ready to eat.

I really hope you give the a shot it really isn't hard at all and I think you will really enjoy it. I very rarely use my oven for pizza anymore even in the winter but in the summer it's really nice to not have to heat your house up on pizza night.

Tish