While Wearing Pearls: Soft Pretzels

Monday, February 7, 2011

Soft Pretzels

I think that the smell of yeast is getting to me. On Saturday, after I baked our bread for the weekend, I was craving soft pretzels.

What's a girl to do when she can't run to Wawa to get their imitation of the Philadelphia soft pretzel. Well here is your answer she goes on-line and looks up a recipe for soft pretzels. The first recipe I saw was posted by Alton Brown.

I figured how could I go wrong?

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.

Sorry so blurring but I was moving fast!! I found that once I gotten about half way rolled out I would start turning it out like a jump rope. I've seem this method done before.

Turning it like this gets the dough out to 24 inches really fast.

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.

Very important do not forget to add the baking soda!!

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.