Whole Wheat & Bran Pretzels

2 - cups Whole Wheat Flour,
.5 - cup All Bran cereal (crushed fine)
2 - Tbsp Honey,
1 - tsp Salt,
1 - .25 oz packet active dry Yeast,
1 - cup very warm water
1 - Egg Yolk, wisked
1 - Tbsp water
coarse salt (optional)

Mix together wheat flour, crushed bran, and salt in medium bowl till well blended. In another container, mix honey, warm water, and yeast packet. Set aside for 2 - 3 minutes to proof. with fork, add the yeast mixture to flour mixture a liitle at a time until you have a bread dough consistency. (if it is too dry add a little water one teasppon at a time.)
Cover and set dough aside to raise until double in size (about 1 hour)
punch dough down and knead breifly. cut into four sections. Cut each section into 10 pieces. Roll each piece out into rolls slightly thicker than a pencil, about 6" long. Shape into pretzel shapes and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Mix together egg yold and 1 Tbsp water, and brush lightly over each pretzel. If desired, sprinkle with course salt. Cover and let pretzels stand in warm area till doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
* you can use this to make bread sticks instead of pretzels as well.
Makes 40 pretzels.
* note: I serve these with a cream cheese - honey spread. Delicious!

Number of Servings: 40

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user TERI3865.