Pretty Big Pretzels

Wednesdays are a good day! Not only is Wednesday my Friday, it is also farmers market day in Brisbane. This week farmers market day meant a bratwurst hotdog and a pretzel for lunch. YUMMMM!

Inspired by my tasty tasty lunch i had a go at making my own pretzels. These were much easier to make than i imagined they would be. Aside from the rising times they were fairly quick to make, easy to roll and shape.

They weren’t quite as tasty as my market bought pretzel but i was super pleased with how they turned out.

For the dough
(from The essential baking cookbook)

1 teaspoon dried yeast
¼ teaspoon sugar
150 ml warm milk
1 ½ cups bread flour
¼ teaspoon salt
30 grams butter (melted)
1 egg yolk (lightly beaten)
Course sea salt

In a bowl stir together dried yeast, sugar and milk. Cover bowl and place in a warm position for ten minutes, until frothy.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Add the yeast mixture and the melted butter to the flour and mix to make a rough dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for about 1 hour (until its twice the size).

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees c. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Punch down the dough and knead for another 2 minutes. Cut the kneaded dough into 12 even pieces.

Roll each piece of dough to form a rope about 40cm long. Twist the roll into the pretzel shape.



Space the pretzel shapes out on the baking tray. Cover again with a tea towel and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.



Lightly brush the risen pretzels with egg yolk and sprinkle with sea salt. Spray the pretzels twice with water and put them straight into the oven.



Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.



Eat eat! Yum yum!