Half-Time Pretzels

ADULT BEVERAGE COMPANION

Bet You Can't Eat Just One

plus, a popper for a perfect wake

WALLPAPER: PLUMP BEER-IN-BATTER PRETZELS

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.. If pizza is not on today's game day menu, then pretzels ought to be. Pretzels go together with beer and other stuff; but mostly with beer. These pudgy little devils are made with beer and are often called "PRETZ-ALES."
.. They are pudgy because of an additional proof after the knot and before boiling. They are small to encourage a third or fourth or fifth. They are built in the standard pretzel fashion and can be made in an hour or so.

RECIPE

2 1/4 tsp. yeast,
1/4 tsp. salt ,
2 tsp. sugar,
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup beer (an IPA will work great, drink the rest,)
3 cups flour
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
-- Activate yeast in warm water with salt and sugar. Mix in all remaining ingredients to form a dough. Knead for a few minutes, (until elastic and smooth.) Rest for 45 minutes. Form into ropes and knot the pretzels. Rest for 15 minutes. Boil for 70 seconds in a 3% lye bath or saturated baking soda bath. Pat dry: sprinkle with salt, and bake on a lightly oiled sheet in a pre-heated oven at 450 ° - 10 minutes - give or take.

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.. The appearance of bass poppers in the trout fisher's fly box is as old as Dr. James A. Henshall. Today these flies are shunned by effete fishers who would rather fish than catch. In our neighborhood the deer hair flies are tied to produce an enticing wake.

.. This little popper/streamer, ("The Red Rumbler" - thank you Louisa,) has a face shaped like the prow of a WW I battleship. It's "V" shape and vertical profile push water in protracted bow waves. The thick bucktail afterburner keeps the bow waves separated for a good distance.
.. For those with experience beyond trout this fly can be fished like a Zara Spook - "Walk The Dog." It's not for the fully decked out, dry your fly before it alights, fisher. Fished in the moonlight or at dusk this class of flies is the whoop-producing bunch of flies.

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WALLPAPER: THE RED RUMBLER