I’ve never made soft pretzels before or any bread where the dough is briefly cooked in a simmering alkaline water bath. I saw this recipe for soft pretzels in Bake from Scratch and I had time this morning to try it out. Pretty fast since it uses commercial yeast.
I forgot to punch down the dough and handled the dough too much like baguette shaping. They taste delicious even if they are far more rustic than I was expecting. I need to ensure that I roll the dough out much longer in order to get a pretzel that looks like a pretzel rather than just a roll with a twist on top.
HANDS ON 35 minutes
RISE 1 hour
BAKE 11 minutes at 425°F
Total dough weight 614 g
Makes 8 pretzels approximately 76.75 g each
Ingredients
183 g milk ¾ cup
59 g water ¼ cup
31 g sugar 2½ Tbsp.
1 ¾ tsp of IDY 5.5 g
300 grams all-purpose flour
28 g (2 Tbsp.) butter, softened
7.11 g (1¼ tsp.) fine sea salt
5 cups water
⅓ cup baking soda
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. cold water
Coarse salt (optional)
Directions
In the bowl of your standmixer, add milk, 1/4 cup water, sugar, salt and yeast. Stir briefly, then add AP flour. Mix until moderate gluten development. Add very soft butter in 2 stages each time waiting until the butter is incorporated
Turn dough out onto a clean, dry work surface. Knead a few times by folding and pressing dough, turning dough to knead uniformly; shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour).
Preheat oven to 425°F and get water into skillet on the stove about 30 mins into bulk.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down dough. Turn out onto a work surface; divide into 8 portions.
Roll and stretch each portion into a 30-inch-long rope, slightly thicker in the center than the ends. (If the dough does not want to stretch, cover and let rest 10 minutes.)
To shape each pretzel, form each rope into a U shape.
Cross ends over each other, then twist once. Bring endsdown to the bottom of the U shape; press to seal.
In a deep skillet or wide pot stir together the 5 cups water and the baking soda; bring to a simmer. Using a slotted spoon, lower pretzels, one at a time, into the water 10 seconds.
Remove pretzels and place on paper towels. Arrange pretzels 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
In a small bowl combine egg yolk and the 1 Tbsp. cold water.
Brush pretzels with egg yolk mixture. If desired, sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Cool slightly on a wire rack; serve warm. Makes 8 pretzels.
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I used to make them regularly for our group of grad students at UNC when we watched the TarHeels play stellar basketball. Phil Ford led the way with the “ four corners” . He’s 69 now and the coach ! This was the ‘70’s! I still have the recipe in my folder , saw it recently.
Yours look wonderful. c
Thank you Caroline, I have to try making these again, I’m not that happy with the tearing or inconsistent colour of the crust. I have to fully degas the dough. I think I’ll use a rolling pin during shaping and aim to get the ropes of dough much thinner and longer next time. The flavour was great though.
Benny
That’s an interesting recipe. I’ve never used milk in my pretzel dough before so i imagine that must make them extra soft. If you really want a darker look use food grade lye and you wont be disappointed.
The first pretzel rolls I made were with yeast and ever since I converted them to SD and have made numerous variations. My favorite now uses butter to soften dough along with a mix of durum and WW FMF with some bread flour.
I look forward to seeing more pretzel bakes from you in the future.
The milk and butter makes these quite yummy, you can definitely taste the butter. Your versions with whole grains sound interesting. I’ll try making these again to improve upon the shaping before I attempt anything more complicated with SD or whole grains.
Benny
I started out using bread flour and over the years tried all different mixes including 00 flour, All Clear, AP etc. I used to add rye which gives it a nice flavor but tends to get dense. I’ve added potatoes, used beer and Guinness which is one of my favorites. Try adding cheese as that never disappoints.
If you want to try the lye you can order it on Amazon. I know people are afraid of using it but you dilute it with water and only use 2-3%. As long as you don’t drink it you’re more than safe. I’ve seen some people use twice baked baking powder with some good results.
I usually make buns/rolls and freeze most of them for later use. They make excellent hamburger buns and sandwiches as well.
If you decide to use pretzel salt make sure you don’t cover the finished product as the salt sucks the moisture out of the air and turns the top of the pretzel mushy.
Sorry if I’m droning on and providing unwanted advice.
Best,
Ian
Ian, your advice is not unwanted at all, I appreciate all the information as a neophyte baker of soft pretzels! Thank you for taking the time to share that information with me.
Benny
and texture difference. I’ve been consumed by baggies but need to get back to bagels and pretzels.