This week in the TMC offices, we are contemplating hybrids: phones used as flashlights, video game consoles as TV suppliers, and pretzels doubling as doughnuts.

It appears as though, in our heavily multi-tasking world, we require people and objects to be many things at once and do many things at once. Writers should also be photographers, engineers should be designers, our personal devices should be our best friends.

With the advent of Siri, the magical voice software on the iPhone 4S, we are wondering how heavy the reliance on this new technology will become for users. Will we begin to rely on our personal devices so much so that we will no longer be able to answer questions ourselves? Some argue that this process has already begun. Think about how many times a day you Google something to find out the answer. Just the other day a colleague was asked a question and suggested that we “Ask the mother.” She meant the Internet.

Google’s search function, as a vehicle for the Internet’s resources, is becoming our go-to playground for figuring out how to survive. Literally. You can Google “how to survive.”

More in hybrid news: Verizon wants to take a crack at streaming video a la Netflix? Good grief. How are we supposed to keep anything straight in this crazy world? We can get TV from Apple, social media from Google, TV from Verizon, and maybe a phone from Facebook?

We can certainly learn from those brands that have strayed from good quality content because of "over-multitasking." MTV appears to be such a brand. According to TMC's Tammy Wolf, MTV has tried to be too many things and simply do too much. For example, where the heck did all the music videos go? Doesn't MTV stand for music television? 

Wolf wrote, "Music videos may be taking a backstage spot on MTV, but they are now taking more of the spotlight on websites like VEVO, whose content is distributed on YouTube, and now on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service." 

Well, we’re starting small on this hybrid business in Techfast – with chocolate-dipped pretzel doughnuts. We promise we’re not that obsessed with doughnuts…even though we’ve written a little bit about them already, but these are special doughnuts because they are more like pretzels. Covered in chocolate. Don't worry, we won't be trying to combine baking and the TMC newsroom anytime soon... or will we?



Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Doughnuts

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbs earth balance, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• Water for boiling
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• Kosher salt
• 0.5 lb semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour and earth balance, a little at a time,  to the yeast mixture. Stir until well combined.
3. Knead the dough, for 5 minutes, on a lightly floured surface.
4. Put 1 tsp of oil in a clean bowl and put the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
6. Bring the water and the baking soda to a boil on the stove.
7. Put the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide into 15 equal pieces.
8. Roll out each piece of dough so that it is about 5″ long.
9. Put  each piece of dough into a hole in the donut pan and push the dough down with your finger until it fills out the entire shape.
10. Use a fork to carefully lift the dough out of the pan, and 1 by 1, place it into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Take the dough out of the boiling water and put it back into the donut pan.
11. Once all of the donuts have been boiled and placed into the donut pan, sprinkle them with salt and stick the pan in the oven for 12 minutes, or until light brown.
12. Let the donuts cool completely.
13. Melt the chocolate in a bowl.
14. Dip the top of the donuts into the chocolate and set it aside to harden.