Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Pretzels

I wanted to make the German style pretzel with a crunchy exterior and a soft crumb. I think that comes from the water bath you put the formed dough in before you put it in the oven, and crank the oven temperature really high.

Here's my version of the German pretzels. The last time I used baking soda in the water bath, but this time I used brown sugar and I think that made a big difference. What is your trick for getting a crunchy, hard crust?


Pretzels

3 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Warm Milk
4 tbsp Brown Sugar (for the water bath)

Mix all the ingredients together. Knead for about 8-10 minutes or until smooth and silky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a muslin cloth. Let the dough rise for about an hour. Gently deflate and divide into 6 parts.

Bring a quart of water to a rolling boil with the brown sugar. And preheat the oven to 200 deg C.

Roll each part into a long rope (try to get it to about 22" to 24"). Holding each end, twist the two portions of the rope and the fold it back down. Watch this video for shaping instructions.


Gently lift each pretzel with a spatula and lower into the water. Keep it in the water by pushing down on it with the spatula. Let it boil for about 20 seconds per side. You can boil 2-3 pretzels at a time.

Transfer the pretzels to a lightly oiled baking tray. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Place in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes or until a dark golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with mustard.


This is for Susan @ Wild Yeast for YeastSpotting.

Other pretzels in this blog: Jalapeno Pretzels.

33 comments:

Finla said...

Wow they look so beautiful.

amna said...

The one time I tried to shape my bread, i failed and just clumped the dough together again before baking. Sigh..

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Nice looking pretzels I love them so much love the shape of it... its turned out well...

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow awesome......perfect in shape....

FH said...

Gorgeous! I love big soft Pretzels with sat on top. Looks perfect, good job! :)

Priya said...

Fresh, warm pretzels are such a delight to eat. Every time I enter a mall the smell of these goodies makes it really tough to not buy some, not really healthy though. I add jalapenos to the dough and top it with some garlic salt. I use regular sugar in the water, but haven't got the perfect crunch yet.

chef and her kitchen said...

Love the shape...They look just perfect..yummy..

Siri said...

They looks so good and perfect Anu :) I love Aunt Annie's pretzel here - that too the jalapeno version with cheddar cheese dip..my mouth is actually watering hehe..:D

Hope everything is going good with you.

Best,
Siri

Indhu said...

wwoww... they look so professional :)

Unknown said...

They look Perfect Anu! Beautifully shaped!

Jamie said...

The pretzels look great...love all the salt!!!!

Priya Suresh said...

So professional..amazing work Arundathi!

Allen of EOL said...

OMG -- these look perfect! I haven't had this type of pretzel in years but I love them. They turned out so plump and beautifully colored.

Arundathi said...

Thanks Everyone!

Nags - there are lots of videos for shaping breads on Youtube which are really good. It helps me a lot when I'm making a different bread.

Priya - Yes, I made jalapeno too, the last time. LOVE them!!

Siri - they're my favorite kind, though I prefer it with the Marinara sauce! :)

Allen - Thanks so much! :) Do try it!

Deepthi Shankar said...

Delicious .. Are those on sale??

Chutneytales said...

They are so adorable!!

mitr_bayarea said...

These pretzels look way better than the ones you get at the mall, great job.

Susan/Wild Yeast said...

Beautiful! Pretzels are definitely very high on my must-try list.

Dragon said...

These pretzel look perfect!

Matt said...

Food grade lye will give you the crust you are looking for. They look wonderful!!!!

Memória said...

These look perfect!!

Where is the video you mentioned in the post? I can't find it.

theconflictedcook said...

Hi, you have such an amazing blog with beautiful pics. I keep coming back to check out more recipes but am always frustated trying to remember where I found them. I can only bookmark so many. Wish you had an index of some sort. At least labels or something. Yes, I am the same anonymous commentator who begged you to do that a while ago before I had a blog.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Beautiful pretzels! I've never tried to make my own; they're on the list!
Nancy

A_and_N said...

Oh, in fact, yesterday, my father in law who landed at the Ann Arbor and ate pretzel first thing asked me if I could make it for him

This recipe shall be tried by the end of the month :)

Arundathi said...

Deesha - LOL! Nope!

Madhumathi - Thanks

Mitr_bayarea - Thats quite a compliment. Thanks.

Susan - oh you should -compared to the beautiful stuff you make, this is is really easy! :)

Dragon - Thanks

Matt - Its not available here in India (atleast I haven't seen it around). But thanks.

Memoria - Oh I'm sorry - have updated the post now.

Theconflictedcook - I just have no idea how to set up an index on blogger. But I do have labels to search by.

n.o.e - Do try it!

A&N - Ann Arbor? :-) Would rather be at Zingermann's anytime!

A_and_N said...

:) Isn't Zingermanns' the best?

Unfortunately, I've been there once and that is all :| for A's graduation. So, I do plan to make these ;) your way!

Arundathi said...

A&N - Go Blue! Let me know how the pretzels turn out

UjjU said...

They are look so good Arundathi. :)Between it's Bretzel in German (Deutsch) & Pretzel in English ;)

Arundathi said...

Ujju - Thank you!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

They look fantastic Arundathi! Well done! :D

Arundathi said...

Thanks a lot, Lorraine!

Bharti said...

Wow..these turned out beautiful.

Arundathi said...

Thanks Bharti