(Pretzel vendor at Oktoberfest in Munich)
I was longing for a delicious pretzel, like the ones I had in Germany, so I decided to take a shot at making my own. I hauled out my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, read through the recipe, and thought, “Really? I have to boil them first?” I don’t know why I found this so objectionable.
So, I searched for a pretzel recipe on the Food Network, and Alton Brown’s version was exactly the same. In other words, yes, you have to boil them first.
This was the stickiest damn dough I’ve ever worked with. And I have to confess: it’s not often that I cook something and I say to myself, “What am I doing wrong here?” (Which probably means: a) I don’t cook that often, and b) I generally only cook things I know how to cook). The dough, for me, was so elastic that I had a very hard time getting it rolled out and in a recognizable pretzel shape. I’d roll it out, and it would shrink right back to the lump I started with.
I resorted to trying to braid a couple pieces of dough together, just to have something other than a big mound of pretzel, but as you can see by my pics below, I ended up with big mounds of pretzel anyway.
C’est la vie.
Despite looking ridiculous (especially before I baked them – I couldn’t bear to take a picture), they do taste quite good.
On the bright side, the banana bread I also made today looked, smelled and tasted exactly like it was supposed to.
Here’s the recipe – try it, if you’re feeling adventurous. I think I’m going to leave pretzel making to the professionals from now on.
Ingredients:
1½ cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 ½ cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt [I used kosher salt]
Directions:
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
