Pretzels

Prep Time: 0:10
Cook Time: 0:15
Makes: 12

Ingredients / Shopping List

500g flour
Pinch salt
28g dried yeast
40g sugar
75g lard (or Trex)
125ml lukewarm milk
125ml lukewarm water
1 egg
1 teaspoon of
sesame seeds or sea salt
 

Prep to Cook: Remember Pretzels need time to rise.

Mixing bowl, baking sheet, wooden spoon, or large food mixer with dough hooks, or breadmaker to create the dough.

Shape by hand and cook on baking tray

Prep:

Mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar and lard in a mixer bowl

Knead in the milk and water until you get a soft dough
 
Leave to rise 
 
Preheat the oven to 200°C or Gas mark 6
 
Knead the dough again rapidly
 
Divide into 12 portions
 
Shape each portion into an oval
 
Roll each oval into a very long  strip fatter in the middle about 40cm long
 
Pick up the 2 ends and make a loop
 
Cross the ends over twice and press on either side of the thickened middle.
 
Place the pretzels onto a baking sheet
 
Mix the egg with a little water and glaze the pretzels
 
Sprinklewith sea salt or sesame seeds
 
Cook until a deep golden brown
 

 

Check it out!

Pretzels originate from Germany.  They are shaped into a unique knot and baked. They can be hard or soft. This recipe is for soft pretzels, glazed and seasoned with salt. 

Recipe Science

Cooks Know How:

Pretzels are made from slightly enriched dough, raised by yeast. The extra fat, usually lard or white fat, helps to keep the gluten softer and the texture of the dough slightly more dense than a typical white bread roll.  The shape is the key feature of pretzels.  They are fun to make and involve all the processes of breadmaking plus an important egg wash glaze just before cooking and sprinkling with sea salt or seeds.
The added fat in the recipe prevents the gluten in the dough from setting too hard and keeps the texture of the pretzel close.  The egg wash makes the pretzel an excellent product to teach about the Maillard reaction.  The Maillard reaction is when the proteins in the egg wash reacts chemically with the sugars from the flour starch. This brings about a rich, golden, sweeter crust.
 
The yeast in pretzels make the dough rise and the shape of the twist entangles as the dough proves. Yeast makes a gas that pushes up the dough until it rises visibly.  On cooking the yeast cells are inactivated and no further gas is produced.  The heat of the oven sets the risen shape and permits the colour changes to take place.