These bring back lots of great memories from when I was stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany.
I see soft pretzels in the mall all over the place, and they are quite expensive. With this recipe, you will be able to make them even better in your home.
I personally love them with mustard or a cheese sauce, but you can make them however you desire. I hope you have fun making and eating them!
• Tomm Johnson, a professional chef, lives in Mountain House and shares his culinary expertise through his website, www.cheftomm.com. He can be reached at cheftomm@cheftomm.com or via Facebook.com as “Culinary Secrets with Chef Tomm.”
Bavarian Pretzels (yields 9)
• Dough
13 ounces warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
23 ounces all-purpose flour
• Solution for boiling
3 quarts water
8 ounces baking soda
Pretzel salt or kosher salt, to taste
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and lightly spray sheet pans for the pretzels with oil.
Place all of the dough ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix on a low speed for about 5 minutes or until the dough starts to pull away from the sides. Remove from mixing bowl and put into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, place the water-and-baking soda mixture into a large pot and bring to a boil.
When the dough has doubled, divide into nine even pieces. (They should weigh about 4 ounces each.) Roll each piece out to about 12 to 26 inches long. Shape into a U form, then cross the ends over and press them to the bottom part of the U in the traditional pretzel shape.
Drop them into the boiling water for about a minute, then put them onto the oiled sheet pan. Salt the pretzels as desired and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden • Culinary Secret: You will find many baking recipes in pounds and ounces and not cups. The reason is that cups are not as accurate as ounces. A packed cup of flour might weigh 4 ounces, whereas a sifted cup might weigh 2½ ounces. Big difference!
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