Okay folks... it's time for me to be honest. I have a problem. Nobody has told me to stop, quite the opposite actually. I've never tried to quit, because I don't want to. As I gently reheat the substance to put directly into my body I can feel the tension building. The yearn for... pretzels?
Yes!!!! I freakin' love soft, warm pretzels! In fact I make them almost every time that the family is going to have a movie night. What makes THESE pretzels better is that they also are packed with protein and iron! These are cricket pretzels.
For a different look into the recipe check out our YouTube video here:
Cooking with Crickets and Other Bugs: Cricket Pretzels
And for a tasty addition, don't forget the Ruth's Mustard (a fellow SCORE Award winner) here:
Here's the recipe, feel free to tweak the cricket powder a bit by removing the same amount of flour as the cricket powder that you put in. Just don't go too crazy because it will make the dough a bit thicker. Have fun and enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cricket powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup kosher salt
Combine 1 tsp sugar, yeast, and 1 1/4 cups water in a bowl to start the yeast for about 10 minutes. In a large bowl combine flour, cricket powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Add the oil and yeast mixture and mix together. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes then place in a lightly oiled bowl in a warm place, covered, for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 450 F and layout flour on two baking sheets.
Divide the dough into equal bite sized pieces or shape as desired (there's some great videos out there on how to shape pretzels... our's is not one of them). Heat 4 cups water and baking soda in a pan on the oven until warm. Dip each pretzel piece into the solution then set on the sheet pan and sprinkle with salt.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes.
ENJOY!!! (Preferably with some Ruth's Mustard!)
Wrap up any extras and set in the fridge for a day or two, but they never really last this long!