pretzels

One of the first things we did when we got home was some baking.  Our lovely German friend's pretzel recipe was used to make delicious bread for our lunch.  I thought I'd share it here in case anyone else wants to try it. The dough can be made in a bread maker (maybe you could try gluten free ones Simone? you never know).  There are five steps to baking pretzels, sounds complicated but really worth it, and it's much easier second time around.  First you make the dough, let it rise, shape the pretzels, briefly boil them and bake them.

Pretzels

3 Tbsp sunflower oil

450ml water

2 tsp salt

760g high grade flour

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast

If you're using a bread maker add the ingredients in the order listed and run the dough cycle.  If you're making it in a bowl you'll need to dissolve the yeast in the water (lukewarm) first before adding it to the other ingredients and mixing it to a dough.  Let the dough rise in a covered bowl till it's about double in size.  This takes about an hour I think.

Heat your oven to 220degrees celcius.

In a pot on the stove heat till simmering:

1 litre water 

1 Tbsp salt

Once simmering add 2Tbsp baking soda.  (This is the briny solution that you'll boil your pretzels into before baking).

Sprinkle some four on the bench and give the dough wee knead before dividing it into 12 pieces.
Shape each one into a pretzel shape (you could do any shape you like here, maybe hearts for valentines day?) and immerse them, one at a time, in the brine for 20 seconds.
Drain them on a drip tray (I use a cake rack) and sprinkle with salt.  If you want you can do an egg wash before adding the salt, I haven't tried this but I think I will next time.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Yummy!

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