
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup aquafaba
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup oil (I use grape seed but you can use any neutral oil you like)
- 4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup hot water. I just use hot water from the tap, you don't want it too hot or the yeast will die, and it will not activate
- 2 tablespoons baking soda ( This is for the water you dip the pretzels dough in before baking)
Cheese Sauce:
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teapsoon tumeric
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprkia
- 1 teapsoon dijon mustard
- 2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoons light miso paste
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
- In a large glass bowl mix hot water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Let the that sit for 10 minutes to activate, or until the mixture is super foamy at the top.
- In a stand mixer add the yeast mixture, aquafaba, sugar, oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour. (you can mix by hand, just mix the above, and add remaining flour slowly. You will need to knead it for the same amount of time. It's a good workout though!
- Mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated, then add in the remaining flour. I typically will hand mix the first 2 cups of flour in, or use my paddle attachment and replace with the dough hook when I add the remaining flour.
- The dough should come together and not be sticky, if it seems sticky you can add 1/4 more flour a little at at time until the dough comes together. Your goal is smooth, and elastic-y dough, not sticky.
- Let the dough kneed in the mixer on low/medium speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth at this point and have a sort of bounce back if you poke it.
- Form dough into a nice ball, and place in a lightly greased glass bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel, and place inside your oven turned off, OR on the bread proof setting if your oven has one.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil and place in the bottom of the oven. The heat and steam from the water will help the dough to rise.
- Let dough rise about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Remove dough from bowl and split in half. Next, evenly divide each half into 8 equal pieces.
- Rolling the dough pieces between both hands, form ropes that are about 12 inches long with each piece of dough.
- Take each rope and make a U shape. Take the tops of the U, cross then twist them once. Now bring the crossed dough over the bottom of the U. ( the pictures will help if this is confusing.)
- Allow pretzels to rest for about 15 mintues. While this is happening bring a large pot of water to a boil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Once pretzels are done resting, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the water.
- Add pretzels 2-3 at a time into the water for about 30 seconds. You will need to flip them half way through. Just use a slotted spoon and gently turn them over in the water. Return them to a parchment lined cookie sheet once they come out of the water.
- Brush pretzels with leftover aquafaba, and sprinkle with some corse sea salt before putting in the oven.
- Bake pretzels for 15- 20 minutes. I normally move my top rack to the highest position for this. That way they get nice a brown. You will need to keep a close eye on them, and if they brown really quickly, move them to a lower rack for the remainder of the bake time.
- Once done allow to cool on pan while you prepare the cheese sauce.
Cheese sauce:
- Place cashews in microwave safe container and cover with water. Microwave for 3 minutes.
- Drain water from cashews, then add all ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor.
- Blend until completely smooth.
- Pour mixture into a pot, and cook on medium heat, stirring the WHOLE time with a whisk.
- As soon as the cheese starts to thicken remove from heat. If it gets to thick, add a little more water and it will thin back out.
Cheese sauce will last about a week in the fridge, pretzels can be stored in airtight container at room temperature.
Yields 16 pretzels