Step 1: INGREDIENTS
Baking Soda (in lieu of lye), flour, sea salt, Pilsner, unsalted butter, active dry yeast, brown sugar (instead of barley malt syrup), a mixer (with a dough hook), cookie sheets, parchment paper, egg, water, Kosher salt!
Step 2: Put active dry yeast (one 1/4 oz) in warm water. Add brown sugar, butter, sea salt, flour..
and beer - we used Pilsner Urquell
Get dough hook for the stand mixer!
Stand back and let the magic happen (until dough is elastic - about 7 minutes). We used about a cup of water to help make the dough less dry, a little more than the recipe recommends.
Once it's fermented, knead it out a bit, grease the bowl with butter, put the dough back in and refrigerate!
Andrea recommends letting the dough rise in the refrigerator for 24 hours, so we stuck to that (more or less). At the same time we baked baking soda for about 1 hour at 250 degrees. This will eventually be combined with water to dip the pretzels in before baking!
Andrea recommends letting the dough rise in the refrigerator for 24 hours, so we stuck to that (more or less). At the same time we baked baking soda for about 1 hour at 250 degrees. This will eventually be combined with water to dip the pretzels in before baking!
The following day...we kneaded out the dough, and were able to yield 16 TWISTS!
Once we twisted them into shape (my favorite part), we then dipped each of them in the simmering hot water/baking soda solution for about 20 seconds. Note: in some cases the bread is actually boiled, which I think I might try next time just to see the difference in the pretzel.
Then we brushed egg yolk + water on the pretzels, sprinkled with Kosher salt and popped them into the oven for about 8-11 minutes.
I must say, they turned out quite spectacular - just the right amount of salt, thickness and softness - and our friends would agree. Nothing like pretzels for #SuperBowl Sunday!
