Savory Snacks: Fancy Carbs (Soft Pretzels!)

If you aren't a carb person, I really just don't know what to do with you. Seriously. It's not that I don't want to understand it's that I quite simply can't. I love veggies and sometimes I get pretty strong meat cravings, but in my heart of hearts, I'm all about bread. For example, when I was in law school I managed to procure a free mini-loaf bread maker (thank you, LexisNexis) and for the next several days, I was in rapture. I made honey-oatmeal bread, tomato-basil bread, garlic bread (many times), and pretty much anything else you can think of (aside from sourdough, as I did not have a starter lying around). It was heaven.

One problem: I would eat the entire mini-loaf in a sitting. I would take it out of the bread maker, steam still rising from it, and inhale it with balsamic vinegar. Invariably I would get halfway through and think to myself "I should stop now and save the other half, but I'm still hungry." Then I would get three quarters of the way through and think "Soooooooooo full, but the last quarter isn't enough to save." The result of this dance being me in the fetal position on the couch for an hour alternating between "oh god so full" and "but it was so goooooooooood."

You didn't need to know that. I'm sorry, but here are bread-like items for your digestive delight! Does that make up for it? I hope so.

Fresh Bread Sans Fuss

There is something very satisfying about walking down the hall in my apartment building and thinking "Mmmmmmmm, that smells amazing. Oh wait! That's my apartment!" Delightful.

Oh, and there's no kneading. While I sometimes occupy the role of that annoying girl prattling on about how long, complicated cooking at the end of the day actually relaxes me and gee, what's wrong with a mountain of chopping, I do understand that sometimes it's nice to have something that does not require upper body strength.

This particular new(ish) bread making method seems to have taken the internet by storm and you can find variations on it pretty much everywhere. I happened to want to make something with rosemary and garlic, but you can substitute just about any herbs or cheese or fruit. Go crazy. Yes, baking is a precise pursuit, generally, but sometimes you are allowed to just throw some raisins in there and hope for the best. This is one of those times.