New Years Pretzels

New Years Traditions come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. One southern tradition is to eat something that forms a circle on New Years Day.  Since I refuse to deep fry anything at home, I decided to skip the donuts and try to make some pretzels. (I know bagels are round but that’s another post)  I remember my mom making New Years Pretzels growing up so I wanted to try to make them myself and see how it goes.  I found two recipes to try.

I just love garlic and rosemary and the combination of the two.  Because of that I decided to add some of both to the flour and salt mixture. And as a topping after I boiled the pretzels.  Important tip: boiling the bagel in a baking soda mixture is key.  It adds a great flavor to the bagels.

Only making 8 in the first batch was a mistake.  They would have been much more appropriately sized had I made 16.

After the first experiment I decide to make the pretzels smaller. WIN!  Cutting the pretzels in half also had the added bonus of lowering the calories. Smaller pretzels made a much more significant difference than the flax seed meal.  I checked the nutritionals and there is about a 6 calorie difference between full bread flour and flour and flax seed combination.


Overall both experiments were a win.  However, the larger pretzels had a fluffiness that the smaller pretzels didn’t.  But, I found that the big pretzels were just too much pretzel.  The smaller pretzels were great snacks and I didn’t feel too guilty!  However, the seasoning in the larger pretzels was much better than that for the smaller.  Next time, I’m going to use the first recipe, add the flax and the garlic and rosemary flavorings. So…Good…


Attempt 1:
Soft Pretzel Recipe from Tasty Trix
Nutritionals(Serves 8): Cals: 346, Fat: 10, Carb: 56, Fiber 2, Protein 8


Attempt 2:
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
3 Tbsp spelt
1 tsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 oz yeast
3/4 cup water
a mix of: salt, onion bits, sesame seeds and garlic powder

The instructions can be found at The Wood Fired Kitchen

Nutritionals (Serves 14): Cals: 65, Fat: 1, Carb:12, Fiber: 1, Protein: 2

Without flax meal, the pretzels would be 71 calories, 15 g of carbs.  The rest are the same.