Brewers pretzels.

SayWhat1 · 02-29-2008, 02:12 AM

I've seen a lot about pretzels on here so I decided to try my hand at them. I didn't really take pictures of my process but it's pretty easy. Here they are before they baked.

And here they are after they got out.

Here's my recipe.

16 oz unfiltered beer, room temperature
6 cups AP flour
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs, beat

I tossed it all together in a big bowl and kneaded it for like 15 minutes. I let it rise in a bowl for 15 minutes then punched it down and formed it into the beauties you see above. I set them on the cookie sheet and let them raise for an hour. I rubbed a little water on them and stuck on some kosher salt. Then, I preheated the oven to 425°F and baked them for 20 minutes.

They didn't brown as well as I wanted them too so next time I'm going to try out an egg wash or maybe some butter. The consistency was really good, I was a little worried about not giving the yeast enough time to wake up but they rose like a dream. Oh, and I didn't have any homebrew to use for the beer so I used some SNPA.

I got the Hobgoblin for me. I heard really good things about it around here and when I saw it at the liquor store I had to get it!

I also made some mustard to go along with it.

Not a great picture, but trust me it was good. Here's the recipe.

1/4 cup dry mustard powder
2 tsp light brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup sweet pickle juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup mustard seed

First, you mix all the dry ingredients except the mustard seed in a microwave safe bowl. In a separate bowl mix together all the wet stuff and have it standing by. This next part is way easier if you have a spice grinder but I'm not so lucky. Instead I used a food processor. Stick the mustard seed into the food processor and grind it up for at least a minute or until it's all ground up. Really fast, put the ground up mustard seed into the dry ingredients and then on top of that put the liquid mixture. Again, really fast, put the bowl in the microwave and heat it on high for at least a minute. Speed really is key here. Once you grind up the mustard seed and put the liquid stuff on there it starts getting hot and if you don't do something about it it'll get out of hand really fast. The heat peaks at 15 minutes, but it peaks really hot. You're making, pretty much, the same stuff as mustard gas. The heat stops it from getting hot so I'll stress this again, GO QUICK! I made the mistake of trying to mix it up for maybe 15 seconds and it's probably the second most hot thing I've ever tasted. Anyway, after you get it out of the microwave put it back into your food processor or blender or if you have one of those wand blenders that would work great too and blend it for another minute, or until it's a good consistency. Then, pour it into a glass jar or some other container and let it cool, uncovered, until it's room temperature. Then you are free to enjoy it!

Because mine was so hot I had to salvage it, so I mixed it with some cream cheese and it was awesome on my pretzels.

**Melana** · 03-02-2008, 11:41 AM

Looks good. I might have browned the pretzels a little more...

Moonpile · 03-10-2008, 01:45 PM

I did these this weekend for a party, using Sierra Nevada Porter as the beer. I did add a little bread yeast and I only had King Arthur Bread Flour, not AP. Apparently I'm not very good at shaping them. They came out more like bagels!

However, they tasted great and got good reviews.

zoebisch01 · 03-10-2008, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonpile

. Apparently I'm not very good at shaping them. They came out more like bagels!

Don't be so hard on yourself, it takes some practice to get right. A few things I can suggest to improve the shape:

1) Make certain you let the dough rest at least 15 minutes (covered) after you have divided them into the final balls in order to allow the gluten strands to relax and not ball up.

2) When you make the 'rope' it should be very long, probably on the order of 18" (maybe longer) and very thin, almost to the point where you think it may break.

3) To form, you take the rope and with a twisting motion you form the twist and then place the back onto the dough. It's really hard to explain, maybe I should make some pictures... But it should be done in one quick motion, and you need room on the counter!

4) If the holes aren't big enough prior to rising, they'll fill back in both by contraction of the dough (although the rest should mitigate a lot of this effect) and furthermore by the pre-bake simmer (which I highly recommend) or the baking process.

**Bobby_M** · 03-10-2008, 03:00 PM

I agree with all the points above and learned them the hard way. Well, I don't know if having to eat mediocre, but still delicious pretzels as hard, but...

The 2 minute boil prior to baking makes a huge difference in getting that awesome golden crust.

mr x · 03-10-2008, 05:53 PM

I'm cooking up a batch of these right now. Good for lots of laughs rolling them out with the SWMBO.

'Just grab it and pull', "Your end it too fat', etc. lol

mr x · 03-10-2008, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

The 2 minute boil prior to baking makes a huge difference in getting that awesome golden crust.

Is that boil or broil?

**Bobby_M** · 03-10-2008, 06:51 PM

Boil...

If you put a good heaping of Baking Soda in the water, it does even better. This is a substitute for the more effective, but more dangerous, Lye in raising the PH.

This post shows boiled and unboiled pretzels from the same batch: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/587108-post43.html

mr x · 03-10-2008, 07:54 PM

I decided to go with the egg wash this time. Turned out really well. Browned very nicely. I'm at the cottage on dial up or I'd post the pics.

**Melana** · 03-10-2008, 08:34 PM

We make similar pretzels and use a butter wash before salting... mmmmmmmmmm butter.