TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
HOME & LIVING
PRETZELS
Continued from Page 1B
Also, to help the pretzels
later brown in the oven,
the boiling water is made
alkaline. Traditionally, this
was achieved with lye, a sub-
stance you probably won’t
have on hand unless you live
in a Grimms’ fairy tale. In-
stead, we’ll use baking soda,
about a 16-to-1 ratio. That
means for four cups of water
you’ll add a quarter cup of
baking soda.
Put on the fi nishing
touches
Once the pretzels are
boiled, they can be brushed
with or dipped fully in an
egg wash (beaten raw egg
mixed with a splash of
water). This is not necessary,
but it gives the pretzels a
nice sheen. Also, if you’re
dusting the pretzels with
salt, the egg wash helps it
stick.
A word about salt: Big
crystals, like those found
in coarse sea salt or most
kosher salt, give a lovely
crunch while bringing out
the fl avor of the pretzel
itself.
Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune-TNS
After the pieces are cut and cover with plastic wrap, one by one is stretched to about
18-20 inches for each soft pretzel.
Step 1: In the bowl of a
stand mixer fi tted with a
dough hook combine 3 3/4
cups fl our, 2 1/4 teaspoons
Prep time: 15 minutes plus 60 yeast, 1 tablespoon brown
sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt,
minutes fermentation
Baking time: 12 to 14 minutes 2 tablespoons melted butter
and 1 1/2 cups warm water.
Makes 10 (3-ounce) pretzels
Step 2: Mix on medium
speed
for 4 to 5 minutes,
3 3/4 cups all-purpose fl our,
until
dough
is fairly smooth
plus more as needed
and
pulls
away
from the
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry
sides
of
the
bowl.
If it sticks
yeast (1 package)
to
the
bottom,
add
more
A sweet variation
1 tablespoon brown sugar
fl
our,
a
tablespoon
at a time,
If you prefer sweet pret-
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
until
it
pulls
away.
zels to savory, my advice
2 tablespoons salted
Step 3: Lightly dust a clean
butter, melted
is to go with the egg wash
surface
with fl our. Transfer
1 1/2 cups warm water
but ixnay on the alt-say.
dough
from
bowl to fl oured
(115- to 120F)
Bake them as per usual,
surface
and
knead
briefl y to
1/4 cup baking soda (adjust
but when they come out of
form
a
smooth
ball;
if it’s too
if you have more or less
the oven, brush them with
sticky
add
a
tiny
bit
more
than 4 cups water)
melted butter and sprinkle
fl our, but you don’t want it
1 egg, whisked with 1
liberally with cinnamon
too dry. Place inside a clean
tablespoon water
sugar (I know you know this,
Coarse salt as needed (optional) bowl that’s been coated
but, that’s just four parts
granulated sugar to one part
ground cinnamon).
Finally, bake — and eat
— the pretzels
Regardless of your sweet
versus savory predilections,
bake your pretzels on the
parchment-covered sheet
tray in a hot oven (425F) un-
til they’re very brown, about
10 to 15 minutes. Let them
cool and then devour them
like a peckish marmoset.
SOFT PRETZELS
lightly with nonstick spray.
Cover bowl with plastic and
leave in a warm place until
dough roughly doubles in
size, about an hour.
Step 4: When the dough
has doubled, punch it down
to remove carbon dioxide
gas. Divide dough into 10
pieces — roughly 3 ounces
each — and cover with plas-
tic until shaping.
Step 5: Using both hands,
roll out one dough piece into
a thin rope roughly 18- to
24-inches long. Drag rope
into a circle with the two
ends crossed about an inch
or two from the ends. Fold
crossed ends back onto the
opposite side of the circle,
pressing down lightly to
make sure they stick. Place
onto a parchment-covered
baking sheet and repeat with
remaining pieces. (If, upon
shaping, your pretzels con-
tinue to proof, don’t panic.
A fat pretzel is still a yummy
pretzel. Or, if they’ve proofed
so much that they look more
like knotted Kaiser rolls,
remember that pretzel buns
are all the rage these days.)
Step 6: Preheat oven to
425F. In a heavy bottomed
saucepan, pour in enough
cold water so that it is about
3- to 4-inches deep, keeping
track of the total number of
cups. Bring to a boil over
high heat. For every cup
of water, add 1 tablespoon
baking soda, sprinkling it in
carefully, as soda will cause
water to foam up. Boil pret-
zels — as many at a time as
will fi t comfortably in your
pan without touching — for
30 seconds, then carefully
transfer back to the parch-
ment-lined baking sheet. If
pretzels sink, you can keep
them afl oat with a spatula if
need be so they don’t stick
to the pan.
Step 7: Coat boiled pret-
zels in egg wash by brushing
or dunking both sides, then
sprinkle with coarse salt.
Step 8: Bake until golden
brown, about 12 to 14 min-
utes. Cool on a wire rack,
then gobble ravenously.
VARIATION
For sweet pretzels, omit
coarse salt. After baking
and cooling, brush pretzels
with melted butter and
sprinkle with cinnamon
sugar.
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