Pretzel-icious

Australia is a land of plenty. A land of Tim Tams and Vegemite. A land flowing with poisonous snakes and spiders the size of Frisbees. But there's one thing Australia doesn't have, at least in my little borough: pretzels.

Not the little crunchy kind - they have those. I'm talking about the big, soft, crispy-on-the-outside-squishy-on-the-inside kind of pretzels. The fluffy, slightly chewy, warm kind, scattered with coarse salt and dipped in melted cheese. Or mustard. Or chocolate. You know the kind. Mall pretzels.

And today, I was seriously jonesing for a big, squishy mall pretzel. Since the nearest Wetzel's is about, oh, half a planet away, I decided to try making my own.

The goods:

• active dry yeast
• brown sugar
• salt (regular and coarse kosher)
  
• warm water
• flour 
• baking soda
• butter

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. The recipe specifies that "warm" is 110F/45C. I don't own a cooking thermometer, so I have no idea how warm this is - instead, I went with my mother's old tried and true method of, "Yeah, that feels about right."

 

 

 

 Mmmmm. Yeast soup. 

Step 2: Let it sit about 10 minutes or so - it should look foamy on top, something like this:

Step 3: Stir in 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.

Step 4: Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding another 1/2 cup of flour as you go - it will take about 8-10 minutes.

I ended up needing to add about 1 cup of flour instead of the 1/2 cup the recipe stated to get to dough to a smooth consistency...unfortunately, I didn't have quite enough regular flour (only about 1/2 cup), so I had to whip out the wholewheat flour - it didn't cause any problems with the recipe, but it did make the texture not quite as smooth.

Step 5: Place the ball of dough in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface - cover the bowl, and let it rise for a minimum of one hour (you want the dough to double - it took mine two hours).

Step 6: Preheat your oven to 450F/230C. While it's heating, combine 2 cups of warm water (again, 110F/45C) and 2 tablespoons of baking soda in an 8 inch square pan.

 

 

Step 7: Cut the dough into 12 pieces, then roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner (you may need to roll it out to about half the length, set it aside while you roll the rest, then roll it again to get the length) and twist into a pretzel shape, like so:

 

I didn't roll them out to "pencil thin or thinner" - by the time I got to 3 feet, the rope was still at least twice the width of a pencil. I like nice fat pretzels, so I think if I had rolled them out any thinner, they'd have been both too large to work with (you'll see what I mean in step 8) and too thin for my taste.

Step 8: Dip the pretzel into the baking soda solution, then place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise again for 15 to 20 minutes.

This was probably the most difficult part of the entire process. By the time you pick up the pretzel, dip it in the solution and then place it on the cookie sheet, it gets pretty stretched out of shape. My first few efforts were...not so good:

But it got easier with practice - thankfully, they're easy to rearrange, as long as you do it immediately after placing the pretzel on the sheet.

Step 9: Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown - I found that 8 minutes was plenty, and never had to go for as long as 10.

I got these just a leeeetle close together on the sheet, as you can see.

Step 10: Brush the tops of the pretzels with melted butter...

...then sprinkle with coarse kosher salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.

I used sea salt flakes, since kosher salt isn't available in the regular stores in my area. I did one pretzel with cinnamon and sugar (not shown in this picture) and the rest with salt - the sweet version was delicious, but I'm a salty kind of girl at heart.

And prepare to drool:

These are so, so good! And not particularly difficult, either - time consuming, yes, but not actually hard to make. And the taste is totally worth the time spent making them.

Mall Pretzels
makes 12

Ingredients
1 (.25 ounce/7 gram) package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
4 cups all-purpose flour


2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons baking soda

2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt

Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for 1-2 hours, or until dough is doubled.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan.

After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner (or, if you get it to 3 feet without it being this thin, that's fine). Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.

Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.