Ingredients
- 1 package Active Dry yeast (or about 1 tbsp)
- 2 cups warm milk (2 minutes, 30 seconds in my microwave on high)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 5 cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- non-stick cooking spray or butter for greasing
- 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water
- coarse salt
- 10 cups of water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- parchment paper
- large baking sheet
- 2 spatulas
Preparation
Step 1
Grease a large bowl with butter, set aside.
Heat the milk in a microwave safe cup that pours. After warm, mix in the brown sugar and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until it begins to foam. This step activates the yeast.
In a stand mixer with a hook attachment (or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon) mix together the flour and salt.
With the mixer on low-medium, slowly add the melted butter and milk until combined. My mixer didn’t really enjoy this too much, so I took the hook out and finished incorporating the ingredients by hand.
Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dough until it’s smooth and all the ingredients are combined. About 5 minutes.
Form the dough into a large ball and place it in the greased bowl. Cover with with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough doubles. (I waited an hour and my dough hadn’t exactly doubled, but I was in a time crunch and just went with it. They still turned out yummy!)
Bring the water and baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with non stick cooking spray or butter. Preheat your oven to 425 F degrees.
In the meantime, grease a flat surface (like your counter) with butter or cooking spray. Roll out your dough about 1/4in thick into a large rectangle.
Cut 1in slices of dough. Roll them out about 15 inches long. If you roll them too long, you can fold them in half and cut them. It’s really up to you how big you want them. The thicker you roll the dough, the thicker the pretzel you’ll have. Shape the dough into a pretzel or twist. Place on prepared baking sheet.
Once you’ve rolled out enough pretzels to fit on the baking sheet, you’ll begin the boiling process. First, beat the egg and water together in a small bowl, set aside.
One at a time, place one pretzel on your spatula then place the second spatula on top, like a sandwich. This will help you keep control of your pretzel. Submerge the pretzel into the boiling water for 30 seconds or until the pretzel floats to the surface. You’ll want to hold onto the pretzel with the spatulas for about 10 seconds before letting go. This will help make sure the pretzels keeps it’s shape. The larger pretzels I did 1 at a time, but I found that 3-4 smaller twists were okay to boil at once. The Fresh Loaf has a great tutorial on how to do this, which is where I learned. Place the boiled pretzel back on the prepared sheet.
Once all the pretzels are boiled, brush each with the egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt. I used sea salt because it’s what I had on hand, but your favorite coarse salt would work.
Bake the pretzels for about 15 minutes or until browned.
Eat immediately! Or you can let them cool on a wire rack.
German Beer Spicy Mustard
Makes about 1 1/2 cups of dipping sauce
9 heaping tbsp course grain mustard
3 heaping tbsp spicy brown mustard
3 heaping tsp horseradish
3 tbsp German Dunkelweisen (or your favorite Hefeweisen or Lager beer)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt/pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix.
This recipe really isn’t rocket science and is hard to screw up. Add/omit/change it to your taste!