Soft Pretzels and Stuffed Tomato

Happy Sunday! I've been wanting to try my hand at soft pretzels for a while now, and decided that today was a great opportunity to do so. I also needed a side dish for my dinner, so made a stuffed tomato with what I had in the house, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Soft pretzels have a dough that is very similar to a lot of breads. What makes them have their unique crust is a short bath in baking soda. Years ago, lye was used instead with the same result, but cooks today use baking soda because it is safer, cheaper, and easier to work with. To make the dough, combine 1.5t activated yeast, 2T brown sugar, 1T heaping salt, 1.5C warm water, 3C all-purpose flour and 1C bread flour and kneed for 8-10 minutes, then let rise for an hour. Make the bath in a 8x8 pan with 2C warm water and 2T baking soda. Then, divide the dough into 12 pieces, roll out to ~3 feet and pencil-thin, create pretzel shape, dip in bath, and place on pre-greased pan. Let rise on the pan for an additional 15 minutes, then bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. When they come out, brush with melted butter and whatever toppings you like; I used coarse salt. When rolling out the pretzel dough, I found it easiest to angle my hands 90 degrees apart, then roll them forward and apart to stretch the dough while rolling it because of the stretchiness of the dough. Also, I twisted the middle of the pretzel twice and massaged the dough where the arms end on the body so that it would stay together in transit to the pan after forming the pretzel shape. Makes 12 delicious pretzels. Based on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mall-Pretzels/Detail.aspx

The other thing I made came to exist because I wanted a side dish with dinner and didn't have anything specifically planned. I started out by hollowing out a large tomato like a pumpkin - carve a circle in the top and clean out most of the guts with a spoon. Then, I combined a bit of the guts with 2 strips of crumbled bacon, ~1.5T cream cheese, parsley, oregano, ~1T tomato paste, ~1/4C sauteed onion and ~1/4C milk, spooned it into the tomato cavity and baked at 350 for about half an hour. I served it in a ramekin because of the soupyness of the contents, and it worked very well, and the flavor was delicious, delicate and creamy. Also, it had bacon in it, which makes anything awesome. If you want sauteed onion but don't want to take the time to make it, try putting the chopped onion in a pile in the skillet, then placing a small pot lid over it. The steam causes it to cook quickly and become limp in only a few minutes.