Soft Pretzels
I love Soft
Pretzels or Brezel. I love
their smooth golden crust with the soft chewy centers with butter
drizzled over it. Yum!
I
would eat it everyday when I was living in Berlin some years ago.
It just something I could never get tired of eating.
I'm so glad I found on The Fresh Loaf a great
recipe for it. This recipe was submitted
by Floydm and it is
really quite simple to prepare. I hand kneaded the dough for 10
minutes and I think my upper arms are going to ache tomorrow (what
a workout) but very worth the effort. I also boiled them in water
and a teaspoon of baking soda for about a minute on each side
before baking them in the oven. I baked for 12 minutes and at 6
minutes rotated my tray 180° so they brown evenly. All in all I
took about just over 2 hours to make (I left it to proof for an
hour).
If you want the authentic real deal you will need to include
domestic lye as a wash. I don't even want to try it. And if you
must (and if you read German) you will find a great deal of
information at Der
Brez'n-Bäcker.
I am thinking of adding garlic the next time as a
topping.
Pretzels
Makes 14
2 Tsp Instant Yeast
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
6 Cups All Purpose or Bread Flour, sifted
2 Tsp Salt
2 Cup Warm Milk
1 Tsp Baking Soda
Combine all of the ingredients (but 2 cups of flour) in a bowl and mix together until it forms a ball. Transfer the mixture on a floured counter and knead the rest of the flour for about 5-10 minutes until very smooth and supple.
Divide dough into 14 little balls of 100g and leave to proof on baking-parchment lined baking trays for 1 hour covered loosely with plastic wrap.
Before shaping, start preheating the oven to 220C.
Boil water with baking soda at the lowest heat, by the time it boils fully you should be done shaping the pretzels. Roll each one into a rope that is about 40 cm long and twist into shape, leave to rest for about 10 minutes..
Once you are ready to boil the pretzels, turn up the heat of the boiling water and drop pretzels one at a time and boil on each side for 1 minute. Using a pair of tongs or slotted spoon transfer to non-stick baking parchment lined baking tray. At this point you may sprinkle coarse salt or favoured topping.
Place the baking tray into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes and at 6 minutes rotate tray 180° for even browining. At the end of 12 minutes it should be a gorgeous golden brown. Remove from the oven and eat immediately.