Pretzels/Pizza Base

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C warm water
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 sachet yeast granules (or 4 teaspoons)
• 4 C high grade flour

Method

• Put warm water in a large bowl.
• Add sugar and salt, and mix till dissolved.
• Sprinkle yeast into the mixture, leave for about a minute until the yeast starts to dissolve by itself, then mix until thoroughly dissolved.
• Add the flour to the liquid and mix until most of the flour is combined with the liquid.
• Empty this mixture onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough (adding more flour but only when needed), until the dough is smooth and elastic. Takes about 6 minutes of kneading.
• Put about a teaspoon of oil into the bowl, and place the ball of kneaded dough back into it. Lift the bowl and swirl it to make the ball of dough run around the and cover itself in the oil. This makes it easier to remove later.
• Cover the bowl with a teatowel and leave this in a warm place for about an hour until the dough has at least doubled in size.

For pizza base:

• Preheat oven to 210° celcius.
• Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half.
• Roll or stretch out each half to make two large pizza bases.
• Put the bases onto a baking tray or into a pizza dish.
• You can now put the pizza topping onto the pizza base and bake for 15 minutes or until base is crispy and cheese bubbly, or: If you want to freeze the bases you can leave the base plain and bake for about 5 minutes until just cooked. Transfer to a wire rack and let bases cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in freezer. Bases can be used frozen - just put topping on and then bake for about 20 minutes at 210° until underside is crispy.

For pretzels:

• Preheat oven to 230° degrees celcius.
• Take dough out and cut into 12 pieces (or 16 for smaller pretzels).
• Roll each piece into a rope about the thickness of a pencil, and shape into pretzel shape.
• Dip each pretzel into glazing solution (mix 1 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon baking soda).
• Arrange pretzels on a baking tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt (flakey or kosher).
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden.
• Transfer to a wire rack when cooked, and while still hot, brush with some butter. Pretzels best enjoyed warm and still crispy!