The Perils of Pretzel-Making

I was in the mood to bake last night, but I wanted something savory, not sweet. After some surfing and searching, I decided to try these miniature soft pretzels. Mmmm, pretzels! That's what the doctor ordered. Just looking at the pics on the recipe page made my mouth water.

I started mixing the dough as soon as I got home. And then I waited about an hour for the dough to rise. And waited...and waited.

Apparently, yeast that's been hanging out in your cabinet for about a year doesn't have the mojo it once did. Go figure.

I thought I was lucky because I wouldn't have to run down to the grocery store to pick up anything, but the yeast I had on hand--from back when I used to make pizza dough from scratch last summer--rose about as rapidly as I do on Sunday mornings. Which is to say not very rapidly at all.

So instead of having hot, fresh-from-the-oven soft pretzels, I had a lump of cold, unrisen dough. Oops! Yet another blooper with bread.

Comments

[greenbean]

is there anything tasty you can make with unrisen dough?

[Wendy]

I keep my yeast in the freezer - it keeps it fresh for much, much longer! ... just a thought... :)

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, greenbean. I thought about rolling the unrisen dough into a nice flat sheet and baking it off. I thought I might end up with something akin to a cracker. But I was discouraged and ended up just tossing the lump of dough. If I ever have unsuccessful yeast dough again (and I'm sure I will), I'll see what I can do with it. :-)

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Wendy. Great tip! I put the rest of the new yeast I just bought in the freezer. :-)