During my last vacation wandering around Trentino, Austria, and Germany, I mainly nourished myself with three things: dumplings, spatzle and them… the pretzels!
Pretzels (also brezel or prezel) are buns of Alsatian origin widely spread in South Tyrol and the Bavarian region in general.
They are characterized by an amber color and a crunchy crust covered with salt granules with, inside, a soft and melting crumb.
Perfect for accompanying various cheeses and cold cuts, including speck (of course!), but also to enjoy simply with a good cold beer, just like during the Oktoberfest, the renowned beer festival held every year, at this time, in the beautiful city of Munich.
The ingredients used to make pretzels are those typical of common bread, namely flour, water, yeast, and salt, to which honey and butter are added.
The peculiarity of these buns lies in their two-phase cooking process, for pretzels, it involves a first phase of a “bath”, that is a quick boiling in a solution of water and baking soda and then a subsequent baking in the oven.
Their preparation is not difficult, but it involves various steps with different phases of processing and resting.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then… let’s cook and eat!!
See also
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Baking
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast (or 15 g of fresh yeast)
- 2 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- 4 1/4 cups water
- 1 oz baking soda
- as needed coarse salt
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Baking Tray
- 1 Parchment Paper
- 1 Pot
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Cooling Rack
- 1 Metal Scraper
- 1 Slotted Spoon
Steps
To prepare the pretzels, I used a stand mixer, however, the dough can easily be worked by hand, mixing the ingredients in a bowl, following the same procedure.
Start by placing the flour in the mixer bowl. I used semi-wholemeal flour, but regular all-purpose flour will work just fine.
Add the yeast to the flour, turn on the mixer, and let it mix for a few seconds, then start adding half of the water slowly.
Add the salt and let it dissolve by adding the remaining water.
When the salt has been incorporated into the dough, add the honey and then the softened butter in pieces. Add two pieces of butter at a time, letting them absorb completely before adding the next.
The dough will be ready when it is compact and completely detached from the sides of the bowl. Transfer it to a bowl, cover it, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, take the dough and make a round of folds on the work surface.
Put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise until doubled (about 2 hours).
After this first rising, take the dough and divide it (cut it) into 8 parts of about 100 g each, then work each of them to obtain little loaves. Place them on a baking tray, cover them, and let them rest for 15 minutes.
Take the loaves and work them on the work surface to stretch them to 24 inches, making sure the ends are thinner than the middle part.
Now give each string the typical pretzel shape by crossing the ends in two points, forming a sort of loop, and turning them downwards.
Place the formed pretzels on 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper, let them rise uncovered at room temperature for 30 minutes, then transfer the trays to the fridge for 1 hour.
After this second rising phase, proceed with the cooking.
In a pot, bring 4 1/4 cups of water to boil and dissolve the baking soda in it.
Take one pretzel at a time with the parchment paper underneath and place it in the pot.
Remove the parchment paper and let them cook for 15 seconds per side, turning them with the help of a slotted spoon and a fork.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pretzels back to the baking tray with parchment paper, score the surface of the lower part, sprinkle them with salt flakes or coarse salt, then bake the pretzels in a preheated static oven at 428°F for 18-20 minutes.
Once baked, let them cool on a rack 😉.
