Soft Pretzels

Some time ago, I decided to make some pretzels. As soon as they were out of the oven, and I mean they were still surface-of-the-sun hot, my husband and brother descended on them. Within moments, all that remained were a couple of sheepish faces and a few leftover crumbs.

To be fair, these are best when warm, so be prepared to fight people off as they come out of the oven.

The glossy finish is due to boiling them in a water and bicarbonate of soda, then egg-washing before baking.  Commercial bakers use a food-grade sodium hydroxide, but sadly I cannot get hold of that in small quantities, so baking soda will have to do.


Ingredients:

• 250ml warm water or milk (or half milk half water)
• 1 tbsp instant yeast
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp cooking salt
• 440g strong white bread flour
• 5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg

Method:

1. Pour warm water in a mixing bowl
2. Stir in the yeast and sugar and leave for a few minutes to bloom
3. add in the salt and flour
4. Once mixed, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 mins until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Place in a bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to double in size, about an hour.
6. Turn out onto floured surface and divide into 4,6,8 pieces depending how big you want your pretzels. This mixture will make 4 large pretzels.
7. roll each portion into a long rope, then form into a pretzel shape (see here for tips on folding a pretzel).
8. when you have all your pretzels formed, boil 1½ litres of water with 5 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
9. add each pretzel individually and boil for 1 min on each side the place on a lined baking sheet
10. once your pretzels are all boiled, brush with an egg-wash and then sprinkle with rock salt or sesame seeds
11. bake in hot oven Gas 8/230c/450f for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown

You can eat these just as they are or try serving them with a spicy tomato or barbecue dip.