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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