Surprisingly easy to make – this recipe for delicious homemade pretzels. Fresh out of the oven, pretzels are to die for! And there’s no need to shy away from handling the lye.
Both me and my daughter suddenly had an enormous craving for pretzels. Unfortunately, they don’t exist in India and I haven’t dared to make them yet because of the lye. I was also not aware that it is ordinary soda, which you simply dissolve in water.
You should be a little careful. Always wear gloves and watch out that no drops come on the work surface. That is it. That was also the only step where my (4-year-old) daughter didn’t help me. Apart from that, she made some really great pretzels by herself.
Knotting the pretzels is easy, just follow the short illustrated instructions.
The recipe below is for 12 pretzels. These homemade pretzels turn out a little smaller than the typical pretzels you can buy at the German bakery. If you want them larger, you might only make 9 from the amount of dough, roll the dough strand a bit longer and slightly adjust the baking time. In case you adjust the recipe’s quantity, please leave the amount for water and baking soda unchanged. Only one pretzel goes in there at a time, so the number of pretzels has no effect on that.
Pretzels in India
We really missed pretzels here. After baking them, I now know why you don’t find them here. Due to the high humidity, they draw water very quickly because of their salt. This only takes about 1-2 hours. I therefore recommend them to eat as fresh as possible. But then they taste awesome!
The recipe asks for fresh yeast. I didn’t get that anywhere here, but it worked very well with the dry yeast. What I didn’t know and then found out while researching: Dry yeast was developed for warm, hot countries. It develops the best leavening power at dough temperatures between 27 and 29 degrees Celsius. In this respect, it was good that I resorted to it. 7g of dry yeast correspond to the leavening power of half a cube of fresh yeast.
Pretzels taste best with cold butter! In India, butter is typically salted. Since the pretzels are salty anyway, eat them best with unsalted butter. Your blood pressure will thank you. And it tastes better.
Recipe for homemade German pretzels
Equipment
- apron
- gloves
- empty plate
- skimmer spoon
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g flour
- ½ cube yeast or 7 g of dry yeast
- 150 ml milk
- 150 ml water
- 20 g butter
- 3 tsp salt
For the lye
- 1.5 l water
- 60 g baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
For sprinkling
- coarse salt
Instructions
The dough
- Put the flour, crumbled yeast, salt, milk and water in a bowl and mix it.
- Add the cubed butter and mix to form a uniform dough.
- Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour (the dough should double in volume).
- Now divide the dough into 12 equal parts and shape the pretzels (see photos above).
The lye
- Before you proceed, please be sure to put on gloves. The baking soda in the water is lye, you don't want to get your hands in it! I also put on an apron to be on the safe side when doing something like this, no idea if the lye can damage ones clothes…
- In a saucepan, bring the water with the baking soda to a boil.
- Next to the saucepan, have an empty large plate ready. You can put things on it that have been in the lye, like your skimmer. Avoid getting suds on your work surface. Probably not much will happen if you clean it up directly, but you don't have to push your luck.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- Now reduce the heat of the water a little and drop the pretzels one at a time into the simmering water for a few seconds.
- Remove the pretzels from the pot with a skimmer, drain briefly and set aside on a plate.
The sprinkling
- Then lightly score the pretzels on the long part with a knife and sprinkle them with coarse salt, briefly pounded with a mortar, to taste (or press the pretzel into the salt as in the photo). Many people and especially children prefer to eat them without any additional salt on them.
The baking
- Now place the pretzels on a baking rack lined with baking paper. (Caution: the lye will attack coated baking sheets during baking. I recommend using the stainless steel rack. Do not use aluminum foil, it reacts with the lye).
- Now let the pretzels bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until they have a lovely color.
- I like them best about fifteen minutes after baking, still warm and spread with cold butter!
Please rate my recipe before you leave 🙂:
Source of the recipe: Adeline’s Alsatian food blog. I’m still categorizing the pretzels under German recipes, since Germany is a bit better known for their pretzels and they don’t differ in preparation. I just found this recipe by accident and the great photos gave me such a craving for the pretzels that I baked this one up. Only the brushing with the egg yolk I have omitted, that does not really belong there.
Baked with love on From zero to curry.
