For a long time now, I’ve been obsessed with German pretzels. I used to buy them at the Farmer’s Market in La Jolla, order them at the German restaurant in Point Loma, think about them… and think about eating them. I already require lifelong membership with Carboholics Anonymous and German Style Pretzels aren’t helping my cause. They have a unique chew, a distinct taste, and the grainy sea salt on them makes it perfect.
When I’m in Vegas, I make it a point to visit Hofbrauhaus just so I can order me a Giant German Pretzel. Ahhhh… I’m lucky enough to have Esther’s German Bakery close to home, but shelling out nearly 3 dollars for a small pretzel that wasn’t as good as the ones from down south, didn’t sit well with my pretzel habit. I started searching online for a good recipe. Unfortunately authentic German pretzels require a lye bath and the American recipes all used a Baking Soda bath (which is a lot safer to deal with.) I found one that was translated and confirmed with a German co-worker that the translation was correct and I set out on my adventure to make these little delectable suckers.
I hit up Amazon to find food grade lye and once it came in the mail on Friday, I got my ingredients out and put my Kitchenaid to work.
The recipe called for yeast… I’ve never personally worked with yeast before. I remember growing up and seeing my mom make breads and proofed cakes but somehow yeast always intimidated me. It always seemed like it was a finicky item… any slight variation and it’d get killed. Too much heat, too little heat, too much salt, etc. This was my first experience proofing yeast and it wasn’t too bad!
It also looked kinda gross. Best part was that it smelled yeast-y and bread-y!
So the recipe was really simple and straight forward. Mix the proofed yeast with the flour, salt, and warm water and mix until a hard dough forms.
After the dough has been formed, let it rest and then add in two tablespoons of butter and let the mixer work the butter into the dough until the dough is soft and velvety. Cover the dough and let it rise for an hour.
What rising dough looks like:
I made a lye bath with 1/2 ounce of food grade lye mixed into 1/2 liter of water. I clearly don’t remember much of my high school chemistry but make sure to add the lye to the water and not the other way around. Oh yeah… this was also the time for me to put on the long sleeve shirts, gloves, and my oversized sunglasses serving as my “lab goggles”. Who knew Jimmy Choo could serve dual purposes!
I formed the pretzels and let them rest 15 minutes before the lye bath. I had read multiple recipes on dealing with the lye which made me slightly concerned about the splash-age. I sacrificed a precious pretzel with a water bath to get an idea on how much splashing I’d get and surprisingly enough, it was minimal. It was obvious that the recipe authors weren’t making German pretzels with chopsticks. Two pairs, one in each hand made dipping/turning/lifting a total breeze! No splashing at all! 😀
I also had a large bottle of vinegar with the cap off ready and within reach in case a spill did happen so I could quickly neutralize the lye water.
After the lye bath, they sat and dried for 15 minutes and I sprinkled them with some kosher salt.
I preheated my awesome countertop convection oven (wedding gift from some dear dear friends) and popped the pretzels in to bake. Sadly to say, my main oven is extremely tempermental and takes nearly an hour to preheat up to 350 or higher so my countertop is now my go to workhorse. Breville even advertises it to be large enough to roast a chicken. The recipe made two batches but would easily fit as one batch in a regular sized oven.
The lye bath really made the dough put on color fast. It was almost like a tanning bed for the pretzels! 30 minutes later….
The best part was that they tasted awesome!!!!! Just like the ones I used to get at the Farmer’s Market!!!
Two days after my first time baking pretzels, I made pretzel knots. Instead of rolling out the dough and forming the pretzel shape, I knotted the dough on itself and tucked the ends in. They turned out even tastier than traditional pretzels!
German pretzel recipe here.