Soft Pretzels.

Using the amber fluid in cooking, and pairing beer with food.

Soft Pretzels.

Postby CrookedFingers » Saturday Aug 17, 2013 3:39 pm

Hey all, I've been asked to share this recipe, it's not mine, it's Paul Mecurio's.
It is a great recipe and goes well with your homebrew. Easy to make and great to eat.
I have found that its a good use for the yeast from a coopers kit....what else are you going to do with it anyway !?!?!

Just a little tip, my 3 year old son had a great idea, he said he wanted honey on his pretzels, so we tried it. Freshly cooked pretzels with a little honey to dip in.
Beautiful !

So here it is.

Pretzels
2 – 3 cups of plain flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar – raw or white
1 tablespoon of butter- unsalted or salted – softened
½ cup of milk
½ cup of water – hot
4 teaspoons of bi carb
4 cups of water
Baking paper
Salt flakes – Murray river salt or Maldon
Preheat oven to 230°c or 210 fan forced
Combine the milk and the hot water into a glass jug, the mixture should be warm but not hot. Add the sugar, yeast and the butter to the warm milk /water mixture and give it a stir then set aside. After about 5 – 10 minutes the yeast should be active and you will see lots of yeasty froth sitting on top of the liquid.
Using a cake mixer with a dough hook put 2 cups of flour into the mixing bowl and turn the mixer on. Give the yeast mixture a stir and then slowly add it to the flour and mix. The flour will come together but will be quite wet still so add some of the extra flour a handful at a time until the dough begins to form a ball. You do not want this dough to be too dry or stiff, it is very soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and give it a knead for about 5 or so minutes until the dough texture changes to a more silky character. Put the dough into a floured glass bowl – I usually spray some oil around the inside of the bowl and then sprinkle flour around it as this stops the dough from sticking to the glass. Cover and set aside for an hour or two or until the dough has at least doubled in size.
Once it has doubled turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and shape it into a log. Cut this log in half and then each half in to three pieces. Roll each piece out to be about 30 cm long how ever there is a trick to this and that is – leave a fatter bit in the middle. Imagine a snake has swallowed a football (or an oblong shape) and that shape is sitting in the middle of this 30cm long snake. This fatter section is probably about 6 cm long. As this dough is quite soft you probably won’t be able to roll it on the bench so the easiest way to roll it is to pick it up and hold it between your hands – palms together thumbs pointing to the roof, and make like you are rubbing your hands together to warm them. Allow the dough to hang down and as you rub your hands together the dough will slowly fall down towards the bench as you stretch it out with the rolling action. This all makes perfect sense when you DO it. Let the dough drop to the bench and then repeat the process starting from the other end of the dough. In order to get the fatter bit in the middle start the rolling motion 4cm past the centre of the dough and when you turn the dough and do the other side start that 4 cm past the middle section and voilà you will end up with a 30cm long piece of dough with a fat section in the middle. With practice comes perfection!
To make a pretzel shape have your rolled ‘snake’ lying on the bench in front of you. Pick up either end and hold it above the bench so it forms a big “U” shape now cross your hands in a circular motion so that the “u” swings, turns and twists around itself and then lay it flat on the bench still holding on to the ends. Place one end on top and to the side of the fat middle section and the other end on the other side. Wet your finger and dab where the two ends rest on the fat section to seal them down.
In a fry pan bring the four cups of water and the Bi-Carb to the boil and then dunk a pretzel into the boiling water for about 10 seconds before turning it over and letting it sit for another 10 seconds. Remove from the boiling water and place on an oven tray that has a sheet of baking paper on it. Repeat with the other pretzels. Sprinkle the pretzels generously with the salt and put in to the preheated oven. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until pretzels are a dark golden brown.
Remove and try and wait until they are a little cooler before you devour them. Of course eat with your favourite beer.
Makes six
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CrookedFingers
 
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Re: Soft Pretzels.

Postby weizgei » Saturday Aug 17, 2013 5:27 pm

Actually I think you'll find we wanted you to share your pretzels, not the recipe! :-)
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Re: Soft Pretzels.

Postby CrookedFingers » Saturday Aug 17, 2013 6:23 pm

Hehe.
Give it a try, you know you want to.
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