Originally posted on October 16, 2005.

I used to use this pie crust stuff that came in sticks (sorta like butter sticks), but I like homemade stuff since there’s no preservatives and junk in it since I don’t use any and my stuff doesn’t have to sit in a warehouse or store for weeks or months.

The ingredients are very simple using just all-purpose flour, salt, shortening and a little butter, and a small amount of water. It’s not hard to make if you take your time and should make a nice flaky crust.

Ingredients:	Cost to Make (92¢ for 2 crusts):
2 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour 1 tsp Salt 3/4 cup Shortening (12 tbsp) 1 tbsp Butter 6 – 7 tbsp Water	27¢ All-Purpose Flour 4¢ Salt 54¢ Crisco® Shortening 7¢ Butter

Basic Instructions:

1. Sift 2 ½ cups of flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 3/4 of a cup of shortening and 1 tbsp of butter to flour in small chunks.
3. Cut the shortening and butter into flour with a form or pastry blender till crumbly.
4. Mix in the 6 – 7 tbsp of water 1 tbsp at a time, mixing dough with fork between each.
5. Form dough into a ball.
6. Cut dough into 2 pieces and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. After letting rest on counter for 15 minutes roll crust out between 2 sheets of wax paper.
8. Place dough into pan and flute edges if desired.

Now onto the pictures for the rest!

Our basic ingredients are all-purpose flour, salt, shortening, a little butter and some water.

After sifting the flour (optional) into a mixing bowl add in the shortening and butter.

Cut the shortening and butter into the flour with a fork (or a pastry blender, if you have one).

Add the 6 – 7 tbsp of water in one tbsp at a time, mixing the dough after adding each..

When you are done it should be lumpy and should stick together a little when you try to ball it up.

Form the dough into a ball with your hands.

Here we have a nice pie crust dough ball, woo.

Cut the dough ball in two, forming each into a smaller and flatter ball. Then wrap them each in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes or so.. This resting period is a good opportunity to get whatever filling you’ll be using ready.

Place a sheet of wax paper on your board, lightly dust it with flour, then place the dough onto it. Then very lightly dust it with flour and place another sheet of wax paper on top of that.

Then roll out the crust to about 11 inches. You want it to be a couple of inches larger than the pan you’ll be using (my pie pan is 9 ½ inches) to allow for the walls and some crimping or fluting of the edges..

Note: Although you could roll out the crust without the wax paper, I would not recommend it.

I set the pie pan I had chilled in the fridge over the rolled out crust to make sure the crust was an inch or two bigger than the pan.

You will need the extra crust to account for the walls of the pan and some extra for the crust, and “fluting” if you want the nifty fluted edges, and I do.

I turned the crust over onto the pie pan (having the wax paper on the bottom still makes it a little easier). Yes, this can be a slight challenge. Lift the edge of the crust and lightly press the dough down into the pan, and go easy to avoid tearing it any more than you need to..

I then lightly pressed the crust down into the pie pan, and then “fluted” the edges a little.. Since it’s unlikely (unless you’re Betty Crocker) that your rolling job produced a perfectly circular pie crust you can just tear a little of the extra off some edges to “patch” the areas that are lacking. Then you can use your first, index and middle fingers and thumb to flute the edges. You could just fold it over and crimp it a little, but the fluted thing looks a little cooler.

Originally posted on October 1, 2005.

I’ve always loved the big soft pretzels they sell at ball parks and carnivals. I decided to try making some myself, and it’s not too hard. I made a dozen small ones here, but next time I do it I think I’ll make 6 bigger ones. There’s pictures of each step, enjoy!

Ingredients:	Cost to Make ($1.81, ~15¢ each):
1 cup warm Water 1 package Dry Active Yeast 2 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour 2 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil) ½ tsp ordinary table Salt 2 tbsp Baking Soda 2 tsp coarse Salt (I used Sea Salt)	40¢ All Purpose Flour 73¢ Dry Active Yeast (3 packs for $2.19) 46¢ Olive Oil 2¢ Table Salt 10¢ Baking Soda 10¢ Coarse Salt

Basic Instructions:

1. Dissolve dry active yeast in warm (100° – 110°) water and set aside for 10 minutes until foamy.
2. Add 2 tbsp of oil and ½ tsp of salt and mix together.
3. Add first 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour and mix in.
4. Add remaining 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour and begin kneading dough.
5. Knead by hand for about 15 minutes.
6. Place dough ball into lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for 60 – 75 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 12 even pieces, roll into balls, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes.
8. Roll out each piece until 18 inches long, then shape into pretzel shapes.
9. Cover pretzels and let rise for another 30 minutes.
10. Add 2 tbsp baking soda to a pot of water and boil each pretzel for 1 minute.
11. Place pretzels on greased sheet pan and add coarse salt as desired.
12. Bake soft pretzels at 475° oven for 12 minutes.

Now onto photos of the process!

Here are the basic ingredients we’ll need. Some all purpose flour, a packet of dry active yeast, some salt and some oil (you can use vegetable oil, but I use olive oil for most stuff). Other ingredients we’ll use later (not pictured here) are some baking soda for the boiling water and coarse salt for the pretzels.

Update: After having made bread for a few years now I would definitely go with bread flour in the future. Bread flour has more gluten protein in it, the stuff that gives pizza it’s chewiness.

Add 1 cup of warm water (100° – 110°) to a mixing bowl, then sprinkle on the yeast. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside to let the yeast “bloom”. After 10 minutes or so the yeast should be foamy, this is good.

Note: The first packet of yeast I used didn’t bloom. The expiration date was fine, but it must have been dead stuff, the water temp was perfect.. Yeast die at 130° and higher, so be careful of the water temp.

I then added in the 2 tbsp of oil and ½ tsp of salt, stirred it together, then added in the first 1 ½ cups of flour. Hold off on the rest of the flour at this point..

Now mix the whole mess together.

Then add in the remaining 1 ¼ cups of flour, and mix it in too.

Dump the sticky dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for a good 15 minutes.

Note: Don’t skimp on the kneading, most dough (with the exception of biscuits) need a good amount of kneading to get the gluten proteins going. The proteins are what will keep it from breaking later when we roll it out, just like how they keep a pizza from tearing when you toss it.

After kneading I lightly oiled a bowl and the dough ball, covered it with a towel, and set it in the unlit oven to rise for 60 – 75 minutes. It’s ready when the dough is twice as big.

Cut the dough into 12 even chunks.. Or if you decide to make big pretzels divide into 6 chunks.

Form all 12 chunks of dough into round balls. Cover them and let them rest for around 15 minutes.

Then we start rolling out the dough into long cylinders..

When they’re fully rolled out they should each be about 18 inches, but it doesn’t have to be exact.

Form them each into the shape of a pretzel, or whatever shape you dig

Then cover your pretzels with a towel and let rise for another 30 minutes. Yeah, I know, we’re doing a lot of dough rising here.. But it needs it!

To get the outside texture you’re used to with a big soft pretzel we start a pot of water boiling, with 2 tbsp of baking soda stirred in.

Boil each pretzel for just 1 minute. Don’t worry about them falling apart, since letting the formed pretzels rise again should have them pretty well stuck together in their shape now.

I let the pretzels boil on one side for 30 seconds, then flipped them over to boil on the other side for another 30 seconds.. I also used a slotted spatula to add them to, and get the out of, the water.

Then I removed the pretzels from the boiling water and set them on a dish towel I had nearby to drain off the excess water before setting them on the greased sheet pan.

Add some coarse salt to the pretzels, not the normal table salt you use on popcorn..

Note: Make sure you grease the sheet pan pretty good. If it’s not lubed up enough you’ll be prying your pretzels up with a chisel later

After baking in the oven at 475° for 12 minutes I pulled them out and put them on a cooking rack and covered with a towel for 10 minutes or so. They turned out good, but I now wish I would have made the bigger version, and browned them a little more.