Soft German Pretzels
The recipe I used is based on a Alton Brown recipe, but I sized it down and converted it to grams.
- 4
Ingredients
- 190 ml warm water (60ml of boiling + 130ml cold water)
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 325 g plain flour
- 25 g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/4 litres of water
- 40 g bicarbonate of soda
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water
- coarse sea salt
Preparation
Step 1
1) In a large bowl mix together warm water, sugar salt and yeast. Leave for 5 min and allow to foam. Into the large bowl add the flour and melted butter. Mix until you have a dough then knead for 5 min if you have a mixer or 10 min by hand.
2) Place dough into oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. (I have discovered my airing cupboard is the perfect place for rising dough)
3) Knock back the dough and cut into 4. Roll the dough into a long sausage shape then knot into a pretzel shape. Place on a baking sheet onto of oiled baking parchment.
4) In a large saucepan get the water and bicarbonate of soda onto a rolling boil. 1 by 1 place the pretzel into the boiling water and take out after 30 seconds. Place back on the baking tray. Brush pretzels with the beaten egg then sprinkle with salt.
5) Bake in a 230oc preheated oven for 12-15 min. Allow to cool on wire rack before eating. Ideally they need to be eaten the day they are made.