Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
2 ounces butter, melted
Water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 egg
Our house is pretty cold, so it’s hard to get yeast breads to rise in winter. If this is true for you also, turn your oven on to 200 degrees F before you start the recipe. Set the timer for 10 minutes—after that, turn the oven off. This will give your dough a nice, warm place to rise.
Combine the water, sugar, kosher salt, and yeast in your mixer bowl. Swish with a fork to combine and let it sit for a few minutes.
Sift the flour into a separate bowl. Once the yeast mixture has a few bubbles on top, add the flour and butter to the mixer bowl and mix on low until everything is combined. Then change to medium and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Is your oven off? If it’s been on longer than 10 minutes, shut it off and leave the door open for a bit.
Grab an ovenproof bowl and spray it with nonstick spray (remember to set the bowl on your dishwasher door!). Put the dough in, cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in the oven to rise.
After about an hour, it will double in size and look like this.
Bring it out of the oven and plop it on a clean, lightly oiled counter. Divide it into eight equal pieces and prepare to pretzel!
Roll each piece into a long rope. Start your pretzel by making a U. Then cross the ends over each other a couple times and stick to the bottom of the U.
Fire up the oven again, this time to 450 degrees F. Bring a large pan of water to a boil and add the baking soda. This will really fizz up, so fill the pan half full to avoid a mess.
Slip the pretzels into the boiling water, one at a time, and cook for a minute each.
Remove them from the water and place them on a cookie sheet that’s lined with parchment paper (I used Silpat, but parchment would have been better).
Make an egg wash by mixing one egg and a tablespoon of water. This is a spring whisk, and it’s fantastic for mixing eggs. It squishes like a spring while it whisks, so you get light, frothy eggs in a flash.
Once all of your pretzels are on the cookie sheet, brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt.
Bake until dark golden brown, about 12-14 minutes. Then place on a rack for a few minutes until they’ve cooled down enough to eat!
2 comments:
Those look yummy and I know my girls would love them. I am going to have to give them a try soon. I also find that because my house is cold the rise thing is tough, I take and boil a kettle of water then put my bread (in a glass bowl) in the oven pour the water into a shallow stone and close up the oven door. This is usually enough to warm and rise the dough. Would be interesting to know which method uses less energy as I would use the energy efficient method (probably about the same).
Thanks for the recipe. I might brush mine with some chopped up garlic or other spices as well...
Thanks BrownThumbmama!
I froze some of them to be toasted in the toaster oven by #24 when he is hungry. He is always hungry since he is 9, so this isn't going to be around too long.
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