Sweet Pretzels

By GadgetGirl

Swedish pearl sugar stands in for coarse salt in this sweet take on the soft pretzel.

Ingredients

• Ingredient Info:
• Master Sweet Dough (click for recipe)
• All-purpose flour (for dusting)
• 1 large egg white
• 6 tablespoonspearl sugar
• Pearl sugar, a coarse sugar used for deco-rating baked goods, is available at specialty foods stores and kingarthurflour.com.
• Master Sweet Dough
• 2/3 cupwhole milk
• 5 tablespoonssugar, divided
• 1 3/4 teaspoonsactive dry yeast (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cupsunbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoonkosher salt
• 1/2 cup(1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature, plus 1/2 tablespoon, melted

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

•
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment. Punch down dough; divide into 12 equal pieces.

•
Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining dough covered with a kitchen towel, roll dough on a lightly floured surface into a 17-inch- long rope. Form rope into a U shape. Lift top of left end; fold over or under opposite side; press together gently about two-thirds down from the top of right side. Lift right end up, fold over, and press in or tuck under, forming a pretzel shape. Repeat with remaining dough. Divide pretzels between sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until slightly puffed but not doubled in size, 30–45 minutes.

•
Meanwhile, arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 375°. Beat egg white and 2 tsp. warm water in a small bowl. Brush each pretzel all over with egg wash, then sprinkle each with 1/2 Tbsp. pearl sugar.

•
Bake for 10 minutes; rotate baking sheets and continue baking until pretzels are golden, 6–8 minutes longer. Let pretzels cool on a wire rack.

•
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Master SWeet Dough
•
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment. Punch down dough; divide into 12 equal pieces.

•
Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining dough covered with a kitchen towel, roll dough on a lightly floured surface into a 17-inch- long rope. Form rope into a U shape. Lift top of left end; fold over or under opposite side; press together gently about two-thirds down from the top of right side. Lift right end up, fold over, and press in or tuck under, forming a pretzel shape. Repeat with remaining dough. Divide pretzels between sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until slightly puffed but not doubled in size, 30–45 minutes.

•
Meanwhile, arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 375°. Beat egg white and 2 tsp. warm water in a small bowl. Brush each pretzel all over with egg wash, then sprinkle each with 1/2 Tbsp. pearl sugar.

•
Bake for 10 minutes; rotate baking sheets and continue baking until pretzels are golden, 6–8 minutes longer. Let pretzels cool on a wire rack.

•
Serve warm or at room temperature.