This was such an exciting discovery for me! Making pretzels was not only relatively easy, but a lot of fun. This is a multi-part process. First, the dough. Second, boiling the pretzels. Third, butter and salt the pretzels. Finally bake. From start to finish you are looking at about two hours: about an hour to mix and let your dough rise, and another hour to boil, and bake. Here's what you'll need to start:for the dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rock/kosher salt
1 tablespoon yeast
4 cups flour
2 ounces (1/3c.) melted unsalted butter
Add water, sugar, salt, yeast and butter to a medium sized bowl. Use a spoon or spatula to mix throughly for about a minute. Next add half the flour (2 cup) and mix well for 1-2 minutes. Then add the remainder of the flour slowly until the dough is moist. You may have to keep adding flour until it isn't sticky anymore. Once your dough is formed take the dough out and knead it for about 10 minutes. Once it was feeling soft, I covered it with a bit of vegetable oil, and a cloth to rise. Wait until your dough has doubled in size, which may take around an hour. Now is a great time to warm 10 cups of water. Once the dough has doubled, add 2/3 cups of baking soda to the water, and bring the water to a boil. At this point start preheating your oven to 450.
Add water, sugar, salt, yeast and butter to a medium sized bowl. Use a spoon or spatula to mix throughly for about a minute. Next add half the flour (2 cup) and mix well for 1-2 minutes. Then add the remainder of the flour slowly until the dough is moist. You may have to keep adding flour until it isn't sticky anymore. Once your dough is formed take the dough out and knead it for about 10 minutes. Once it was feeling soft, I covered it with a bit of vegetable oil, and a cloth to rise. Wait until your dough has doubled in size, which may take around an hour. Now is a great time to warm 10 cups of water. Once the dough has doubled, add 2/3 cups of baking soda to the water, and bring the water to a boil. At this point start preheating your oven to 450.
After the dough has risen (about one hour), it's time to shape your dough into that familiar pretzel shape, or make a twisted log, whatever suits your fancy. Matt started by rolling out this portion into what looks like a string. You can make around 13 with this recipe, we doubled it because we knew we would be eating them up quickly!
After boiling and before you bake the pretzels:
6 tablespoons melted butter
rock salt
After you have shaped your dough, get ready to boil your pretzels.
Leave your pretzels in for around a minute, or until you see the pretzels getting bigger.
Now they are ready to bake in the oven. Of course you have already preheated your oven to 450 degrees, so go ahead and bake until golden brown in color for around 12 to 14 minutes. I like to take the pretzels out around the 10 minute mark to re-apply butter for an extra yummy touch.
The end result is fantastic! You can eat them as is, or with some mustard. So yummy, sort of like a bagel with a bit of a hard outside shell, and soft on the inside. Try it out!
