Stella Artois Pretzels

By Bigeasy110

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of Stella Artois beer (105-115F)
• 1 package of yeast (see picture)
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 4 cups of flour, unsifted (not self-rising or whole wheat, just plain old flour. King Arthur Flour is made with Kansas Wheat. Just sayin’.)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• Coarse Ground Salt

Details

Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 45mins

Preparation

Step 1

) The Stella Artois has to be hot, but not too hot (105-115F).
Microwave the beer for 30 seconds,
measure the temperature, and then nuke it in 15-second
intervals until it hits the target temp. If it is too hot, it will kill the yeast, and you wouldn't want that guilt. Once you’re at the right temp pour the beer in the large bowl.

2) Sprinkle yeast and sugar on top of beer. Stir until dissolved. It will foam up a little.
That's a good sign.

3) Slowly mix in the flour.

4) Form dough into a ball and place on flat, floured surface. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle with a little more flour. If it is too dry, splash on a little more beer, but not too much of either.

5) Knead dough until elastic and smooth, about 10 mins.
(If you're cool enough to have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this part is very easy.)
Tip: If you grease or flour your hands first, it makes kneading much easier.



6) Place your dough ball in a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and set it in a relatively warm place. Let the dough ball rise until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

7) Preheat oven to 475.

8) Punch down your dough ball and cut into 8 equal pieces.

9) Form dough into eight 24-inch ropes. A long drink of Stella Artois beer always helps this process. This is like making snakes out of Play-doh in grade school. Roll the dough between your hands, let gravity be your friend. If you have kids in your house, they will love this step. If the snake breaks in half and falls to the floor, remember the 10-second rule and take another drink of beer before making another attempt.

10) Take your ropes and form them into pretzels. This sounds easy. We all know what a pretzel looks like, right? But it’s tricky. Here is a play-by-play of the process.

Now that your pretzels are pretzel-shaped, you have two choices:


Traditional Prep
Put 10 cups of water in a wide saucepan (you can also use a deep pan to avoid splatter, but it’s harder to get the pretzels in and out), mix in baking soda, and bring to a boil. Using a bent, slotted spatula, lower each pretzel, one at a time, into the baking soda bath for 10-15 seconds. Lift from mixture, allow to drain, then place on baking sheet.

or

Lazy Prep
Just leave the pretzels on the cookie sheet and skip to the next step.
Q: What’s the difference?
A: The pretzels from the baking soda bath will be chewy, turn a darker brown when baked, and have a more traditional soft pretzel taste. The pretzels without the bath are a little crunchier and less brown, but still taste pretty good.

11) Egg Wash
Crack the two eggs into a small bowl. Beat with a whisk for about 45 seconds, until blended. If you want to be a fancy-pants baker, you can separate the eggs and use only the yolks. This will make the pretzels browner and shinier. A slotted spoon will do this trick quickly. If you use only the yolks, add a tablespoon of water to make the mixture go farther. Use the pastry brush to apply the egg mixture to the pretzels. Coat the whole pretzel.



12) Salt
Sprinkle salt on the pretzels. You can leave the salt off of some or all of your pretzels, but in Bavaria leaving salt off your pretzels was considered an insult to Prince Ludwig and was punishable by death.

13) Bake!
Put them in the oven and bake until nicely brown, 10-15 mins.



Go Stella Artois Drinkers!

14) Now pour a pint, grab the mustard, and enjoy.

Well, how did you do? Post your results and tips on the Tallgrass Facebook page.
We’d love to see how yours turned out.

These pretzels are best eaten fresh, but they’re not bad on day 2 if you reheat them in the oven or nuke them a little (10 secs). I don't recomend putting them in the fridge. This makes them sticky and weird.