In theory I love the idea of making bread, the almost therapeutic putting together process and then the smell of the baking (has some revolutionary captured this bread bakery-esque scent in candle form yet, because if so I need) and finally the consummation aka devouring of soft, fresh, fluffy, bready goodness. In practice however I've only made bread from scratch a handful of times, mostly because I rarely have the foresight to plan in advance and also bread making can take a great deal of time and skill. A colleague of mine is actually trying to sustain a sourdough pet, admirable but something I wouldn't even consider. A couple of weeks ago however I did venture into bread territory, the reason being that it was my grandmother's birthday and I wanted to bake her something. She's diabetic so sugary things weren't an option and upon doing a little internet searching I settled on pretzels.
This particular recipe* that I ended up using yielded incredibly soft and fluffy buns with a golden brown exterior. Now I'll be honest I've never had soft pretzels before, those small hard-baked pretzels are the extent of my culinary experience in this field, but I'll be completely biased in saying that these are the nicest soft pretzels, ever. They are also amazingly easy to make aka virtually no proving time required aka music to my ears.
So to make these soft pretzels buns you will need the following ingredients:
So to make these soft pretzels buns you will need the following ingredients:
- Plain flour
- Fast action yeast
- Water
- Butter
- Brown sugar / salt
- Bicarbonate of soda
In the bowl of a stand mixer begin by stirring 1 sachet of fast action yeast into 360ml of lukewarm water, allow this to settle for 1 minute before stirring in 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of cooled melted butter. If using unsalted butter add 1 tsp of salt otherwise add 1/4 tsp of salt.
Add 3-4 cups of plain flour to the liquid mixture, one cup at a time, beating well using the dough hook attachment. Judging by the texture, add a 1/2 cup more flour if required - at the end of this stage the dough should be springy to the touch.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, once done pop the dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. This rests for around 10 minutes and in the meantime we can create the bicarbonate of soda bath. To do this bring 9 cups of water mixed with a 1/2 cup of bicarbonate of soda to the boil.
To create the traditional pretzel shape follow the picture diagram above, note that the thicker the dough rope used the more bun-like the pretzel will be.
Then using a slotted spoon, submerge the pretzels one at a time into the boiling bicarbonate bath, remove after 30 seconds, drain as much water as possible and place onto a lined baking sheet. This treatment step is important because it gives the pretzels their golden colour and traditional flavour via the Maillard reaction (click the link for more nerdy info).
Sprinkle the pretzel buns with your desired flavouring, I opted for salt and black cumin (also known as Nigella seeds or fennel flower). Then pop the baking tray into Gas Mark 6 oven until the pretzels are golden brown, around 18 minutes.
Have the pretzel buns whilst their warm, either plain or slice and add a filling or even dunk in a dip of your choice.
Add 3-4 cups of plain flour to the liquid mixture, one cup at a time, beating well using the dough hook attachment. Judging by the texture, add a 1/2 cup more flour if required - at the end of this stage the dough should be springy to the touch.
Then using a slotted spoon, submerge the pretzels one at a time into the boiling bicarbonate bath, remove after 30 seconds, drain as much water as possible and place onto a lined baking sheet. This treatment step is important because it gives the pretzels their golden colour and traditional flavour via the Maillard reaction (click the link for more nerdy info).
😋
Enjoy!
Q x
*recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
