Cook with Hannah: Pretzels

Here we go again with classic recipes!

This time, we are heading for the time I made pretzels for the first time.

I would love to make more of these sometime soon - I actually really love them!

This recipe came from a day of experimenting, when a friend of mine asked me to teach him how to make them... and I actually had no idea.  There are SO many recipes online - do I use this flour or that flour? Dry yeast or fresh yeast? Warm milk or warm water? Boil them first or not? Egg wash or not? I had no idea.

So we spent a whole day trying all the different ways I'd found online and established the best way - and they were amazing! I can promise you the following recipe works - we spent enough time trialing different ways and this is the best.  When I did it with Tim, we were essentially making mini burger buns, so we made them a little thicker [like pretzel rolls], and they looked like this...

And, just so you know, no matter what any other recipe says: 

Use bread flour.

Use dry yeast.

Warm milk is better.

Glaze them with egg wash [they're shinier].

And definitely DEFINITELY boil them first!

This time, my pretzels looked like this...

And you do it like this...

First, put all the ingredients together to make a dough.

Then, leave it somewhere warm to prove, until it has doubled in size.

Knock back the dough and divide into 12 pieces [or 6 if you want giant pretzels].

Roll each piece into a long, thin sausage shape [make them thicker if you want fat pretzels].

Shape each one into a pretzel shape [basically, just twist it around].

Boil them for 30-40 seconds [when they float to the surface, they're done].

Glaze them with egg wash, and sprinkle with sea/rock salt.

[Oh, and don't forget to grease the baking paper.. I promise it's a mistake you'll only make once!]

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until they look like this!

[Essentially, hard outside, soft doughy inside.]

Pretzels.

Makes 6 large or 12 small pretzels.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. dry yeast

1 tbsp. brown sugar

2 - 3 cups bread flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup warm milk

1 egg [glaze]

Sea/Rock salt [sprinkling]

Method.

Step 1: heat milk to 43oC [optimum yeast growing temperature]

Step 2: combine all ingredients together [start with 2 cups of flour and add more as you need... this time I used 2.25 cups, but it depends on a lot of factors], add the warm milk, and knead until you have a smooth dough

Step 3: cover with cling wrap and leave somewhere warm to prove until doubled in size [about 30 minutes]

Step 4: knock back dough, and divide into 6/12 pieces

Step 5: roll into long sausages and then shape into pretzel shape [see pictures]

Step 6: drop into boiling water for 30-40 seconds [when they float, they're done]

Step 7: place in a lined and greased tray, glaze with egg wash and sprinkle with salt

Step 8: bake at 180oC for 15-25 minutes, until hard on the outside and golden brown

Enjoy on it's own, with butter or make it into a schnitzel mini burger.

Hx