Bavarian Pretzel Recipe

[Bulls Beers]

I was over in Munich a few weeks ago. As you know there were pretzels everywhere. I had a bunch and they were very good, but they tasted different than mine. The German pretzel tasted a little dryer if that makes any sense. I have to keep mine in the freezer or they get all soggy and mine also seem breadier. The German ones seemed harder and could sit in open air without any issues. Anybody know what the trick is??

 

[PatGerkin]

here's what works for me:
1. let the dough rest at least 15 minutes, longer if the weather is cold, before rolling the pretzels.
2. roll the ends as thin as possible. i usually roll mine out at least 24" inches.
3. if using the lye method (they won't the correct taste or texture without lye), use a wire rack to allow the lye water to drip off before placing on a baking sheet. I line mine with Sil-mats.
4. Make sure to rotate your trays in the oven between the top and bottom third of your oven halfway between the cooking time.

Have you tried the pretzel recipe that I posted? The taste and texture is very close to the pretzels in Bavaria.

 

[TBaGZ]

If I wanted to make pretzels for Saturday night, but won't have time to do all the prep right before I serve them can I do it Saturday morning? Say make them, but only partially bake them, then finish baking right before serving?

 

[PatGerkin]

what works for me is i make the pretzel dough and form the pretzels the morning of the party (or ideally the night before), put them on baking sheets, place the baking sheets in my refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
about 1-2 hours before my party i turn on my oven, take the pretzels out of the frig, make the lye bath, and then bake the pretzels. they'll stay fresh for most of the day. just put them in a bread basket and cover them with a tea towel. of course, they always taste best as fresh out of the oven as possible.

 

[TBaGZ]

Thanks Pat.

 

[Bulls Beers]

here's what works for me:
1. let the dough rest at least 15 minutes, longer if the weather is cold, before rolling the pretzels.
2. roll the ends as thin as possible. i usually roll mine out at least 24" inches.
3. if using the lye method (they won't the correct taste or texture without lye), use a wire rack to allow the lye water to drip off before placing on a baking sheet. I line mine with Sil-mats.
4. Make sure to rotate your trays in the oven between the top and bottom third of your oven halfway between the cooking time.

Have you tried the pretzel recipe that I posted? The taste and texture is very close to the pretzels in Bavaria.

No, but I'm gonna make your recipe the next batch...I like the way mine come out, but I'm trying to get closer to a real Bavarian Pretzel...

Cheers...

 

[PatGerkin]

Some pics of my most recent batch of Lye Pretzels, which I enjoyed with Weisswurst and Weissbier.

 

[Melana]

Wow, those look awesome.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Looks very tasty! I'm going to have to try my hand at pretzel baking soon.
Regards, GF.

 

[tarawa]

That looks great!!

Got the old hankerin this weekend for German food and since I'm down to my last few bottles of Helles I'd thought I'd make pretzels. Man are they delicious!

 

[tarawa]

I have been wanting to make pretzel rolls for some brats and dogs!!!! I hope this recipe works!

 

[unionrdr]

Here's my recipe for spent grain pretzel burger buns. they could also be shaped for sausages.
*Spent grain buns*
Makes 12 buns
_______________________________________________
2C warm water (3C will give softer dough)
2 packets dry yeast
5C regular flour
1C spent grain flour
2TBSP sugar
4tsp course sea salt (kosher,more for sprinkling
**boil**
5C water
12oz home brewed beer
1/4C baking soda
__________________________________________
1) In stand mixer,add the warm water & sprinkle the yeast on top. Let stand 5 minutes.
2) Combine flours,sugar & salt with wire wisk.
3) Using dough hook(s) atchment,dump in flor mixture & mix on LOW until dough comes together. Increase seppe to MEDIUM & mix till dough is elastic & smooth.
4) Remove dough from mixer. Form into a ball & place in oiled bowl (I use peanut oil) & turn once to coat. Cover with towel & rise 30 minutes.
5) Turn dough onto floured surface & kneed 1 minute. make dough into thuick patty shape about 11" around. Divide into 4ths. Then divide each forth into 3rds. You should have 12 pieces as equal in size as possible. Form into balls shaped like a well rounded mushroom for best results. Do NOT leave any creases in them,or they blow out like lava flows. Place 6 to an oiled cookie sheet equally spaced. Score cross in top od each one. Cover with towels & allow to rise a 2nd time till desired size is had.
6) Pre-heat oven to 425F. Bring water & beer to a boil in a large pot,as baking soda addition will give a big foamy hot break. Do this when rolss have risen properly.
7) When rolls have risen,add baking soda to the boil. Stir down hot break. Using a slotted spoon, (I use a steel round one full of holes,it's flatter) Boil rolls 2 minutes per side.8) Transfer to oiled baking sheet scored side up. Immedietly sprinkle with some course sea salt. Bake 12 minutes till golden brown.
___________________________________________________________
Here's what my first try looked like;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/PICT0001_zpsbd329434.jpg.html] [/URL]
Soft springy pretzel texture, with the IPA spent grain flour used,they were like light rye with a lil malty sweet pretzel flavor & color on the inside. they don't smoosh wehen handled or eaten. They stand up well to condiments & tomatoes too!

 

[NJbeer]

what about using star san solution instead of baking soda soda or lye solution as the dip?

 

[Jacob_Marley]

I was over in Munich a few weeks ago. As you know there were pretzels everywhere. I had a bunch and they were very good, but they tasted different than mine. The German pretzel tasted a little dryer if that makes any sense. I have to keep mine in the freezer or they get all soggy and mine also seem breadier. The German ones seemed harder and could sit in open air without any issues. Anybody know what the trick is??

Thought I'd bump this question from a while back with an answer ...

The OP notes that the pretzels in Munich seemed harder.
That would make sense for a product that needed to keep its integrity while distributing to the crowds.
When you bake bread and you want to do the same thing, creating steam in the oven is how you bake bread with a much harder crust/shell. I suspect that the same can be done with pretzels.

Some people just keep a spritz bottle of water on hand and then initially, and also about every 3 to 5 (or so) minutes crack the door to the oven ever so slightly and shoot in a few blasts of water onto the walls of the oven.
Personally, I take a small cake pan and put in in the oven on the lowest rack when I pre-heat the oven so it gets up to temperature, then, I boil a small pot of water on the stove-top and as the bread is baking, take small amounts of the hot water (say, about 1/4 cup at a time approx) and quickly toss it into the "steam pan" in the oven. As it is all hot it turns to steam fairly quickly.

You can actually do this with bread to the point that you have an extremely hard, heavy crust if so desired ... suitable for rough transport, camping, festivals etc.

I've not tried it with pretzels but I'd think this would be a good way to get just the surface on the pretzel that you want. Not to mention, create a pretzel that stands up to being out in the air for a bit while being distributed to the masses.

 

[passedpawn]

what about using star san solution instead of baking soda soda or lye solution as the dip?

Star san is an acid. Lye and baking soda are both alkaline. So, very different animals. Would it work? I'm 99% sure it would not.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Star san is an acid. Lye and baking soda are both alkaline. So, very different animals. Would it work? I'm 99% sure it would not.

Yep.
The lye speeds up the maillard reaction for browning and umami taste ... acid will not do this.

 

[passedpawn]

The lye speeds up the maillard reaction for browning and umami taste ... acid will not do this.

I use lye with pretzels. In fact, I used it this morning (with ethyl acetate) to extract dye from annatto seeds

 

[Jacob_Marley]

from 2011, worth bumping too ...

As an alternative to both lye and baking soda, one can use Sodium carbonate (commonly known as washing soda).

Sodium carbonate can be purchased directly, or produced by spreading sodium bicarbonate thinly onto a sheet of aluminum foil and baking for 1 hour at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

edit: For reference, the pH of sodium bicarbonate is 8.2 while the pH of sodium carbonate is 11.6

Baked baking soda is somewhere's between unbaked baking soda and lye. If ya got no lye, this would be better than un-baked baking soda.

re: this ... found online ...

" Just spread a layer of soda on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake it at 250 to 300 degrees for an hour. You’ll lose about a third of the soda’s weight in water and carbon dioxide, but you gain a stronger alkali. Keep baked soda in a tightly sealed jar to prevent it from absorbing moisture from the air. And avoid touching or spilling it. It’s not lye, but it’s strong enough to irritate.

Baked soda is also strong enough to make a good lye substitute for pretzels. In order to get that distinctive flavor and deep brown color, pretzel makers briefly dunk the shaped pieces of raw dough in a lye solution before baking them." ...

... "Baked soda does a much better job of approximating true lye-dipped pretzels. Just dissolve 2/3 cup (about 100 grams) in 2 cups of water, immerse the formed raw pretzels in this solution for three to four minutes, rinse off the excess dipping solution in a large bowl of plain water, and bake. "

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Since the subject came up, feedback from my co-worker who was born and grew up in Munich is that mustard is an American pairing. If you want to be traditional, make some obatzda instead: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obatzda

 

[Melana]

from 2011, worth bumping too ...




Baked baking soda is somewhere's between unbaked baking soda and lye. If ya got no lye, this would be better than un-baked baking soda.

re: this ... found online ...

" Just spread a layer of soda on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake it at 250 to 300 degrees for an hour. You’ll lose about a third of the soda’s weight in water and carbon dioxide, but you gain a stronger alkali. Keep baked soda in a tightly sealed jar to prevent it from absorbing moisture from the air. And avoid touching or spilling it. It’s not lye, but it’s strong enough to irritate.

Baked soda is also strong enough to make a good lye substitute for pretzels. In order to get that distinctive flavor and deep brown color, pretzel makers briefly dunk the shaped pieces of raw dough in a lye solution before baking them." ...

... "Baked soda does a much better job of approximating true lye-dipped pretzels. Just dissolve 2/3 cup (about 100 grams) in 2 cups of water, immerse the formed raw pretzels in this solution for three to four minutes, rinse off the excess dipping solution in a large bowl of plain water, and bake. "

Thank you! Learn something new every day...

 

[thegerm]

No. star san is acidic, lye and baking soda are alkaline.

ok so the next logical question is how about PBW? Well, I don't know. Food grade lye is what you should be using. it's a simple pure chemical (either NaOH or KOH) with no other additive. if you have concerns about your safety while using lye (which you should be) just use baking soda.

 

[ChairmanWow]

I get my lye on Amazon, the brand is called Essential Depot. It's about 15 bucks for two pounds. I use about a 3.5% solution, which won't scour the flesh from your bones but is still not something you want to get in your eyes. I wear lab goggles along with nitrile gloves when I dip the pretzels, and usually a particulate mask when I mix the solution, just in case. Just make sure the bowl you mix it up in isn't aluminum or you'll have a real bad time.

My recipe is 20 oz of flour, 4-5 grams of instant yeast (SAF red label), two teaspoons of kosher salt, a heaping tablespoon of light DME, and 12ish oz of water.

Knead until smooth and elastic. Put it in an oiled bowl, covered, and let double in size. Degas the dough and weigh it, then divide into a dozen equal pieces (usually about 3 oz each depending on how much water/flour you had to use) and roll those out into 10 inch ropes. Cover the ropes with a damp towel and let them rest 20 minutes, then roll them out into 25 inch ropes and shape your pretzels.

Dip them one at a time (carefully, they're fragile) in the lye solution for about 30 seconds each. Doesn't have to be boiling or anything like that. I like to let them drip dry a few minutes on a rack set over some newspaper, just to avoid a lot of liquid going into the oven. Sprinkle with pretzel salt or coarse rock salt, transfer to steel (not aluminum!) pans, and bake 15-20 minutes.

I bake them on silicon baking mats because I've found they stick to parchment paper. You could give it a shot on just a plain pan greased up with a lot of butter, but it would probably smoke and be a pain to clean.

They come out nice and brown with a good glossy sheen. They're chewy, and pleasantly crunchy wherever the dough got rolled a little thin. After making them once you'll be surprised how easy it is. When you bring a basket of these to a party, everybody seems to assume it was very complicated or dangerous. I recommend taking a photo of yourself in your goggles and mask, so as not to disappoint them.




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[GNBrews]

My recipe is 20 oz of flour, 4-5 grams of instant yeast (SAF red label), two teaspoons of kosher salt, a heaping tablespoon of light DME, and 12ish oz of water.
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Bless you! Recipes should always be by weight, not dry measure. I've had good luck with the OP's recipe (adjusting for moisture accordingly), but yours sounds very good. Thank you!

 

[Guidry]

Finally obtained the lye and hoping to try to make some pretzels this weekend. I have a couple of questions:

1. I saw where aluminum bowl was cautioned against, for the lye solution. Is plastic ok?

2. For the rack to let them "drip" from, what material do I need? Most I have seen are metal.

3. Someone mentioned using tongs to lift and dip the dough. Rather than SS, would plastic, like salad tongs work?

Hopefully someone is around these days with experience with this recipe.

THANKS!

 

[passedpawn]

Finally obtained the lye and hoping to try to make some pretzels this weekend. I have a couple of questions:

1. I saw where aluminum bowl was cautioned against, for the lye solution. Is plastic ok?

2. For the rack to let them "drip" from, what material do I need? Most I have seen are metal.

3. Someone mentioned using tongs to lift and dip the dough. Rather than SS, would plastic, like salad tongs work?

Hopefully someone is around these days with experience with this recipe.

THANKS!

Plastic is OK.

Stainless steel is probably the best drying rack. Take a rack out of your oven and use that on the counter. Put some parchment covered with paper towels under it. I've damaged (aesthetically) a number of cookie sheets in my house from making pretzels with lye.

 

[ChairmanWow]

I don't think plastic would be a problem. Just make sure you add the lye to the water (slowly) and not the other way around. Hydration of NaOH is exothermic, and it generates enough heat to warm the bowl a little. If you add water to the powdered lye, though, that small amount could briefly get warm enough to damage a plastic bowl. Maybe.

As far as tongs, I find it sortof annoying to use an additional tool while dipping the shaped pretzels. I tried using a wire spider and a wide slotted spatula and in every case I found it was stretching and tearing the dough. Now I just wear long sleeves and chemical handling gloves and dip them by hand, lifting them out with two hands supporting the pretzel (imagine the same motion as a clamshell bucket on a crane).


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[passedpawn]

I don't think plastic would be a problem. Just make sure you add the lye to the water (slowly) and not the other way around. Hydration of NaOH is exothermic, and it generates enough heat to warm the bowl a little. If you add water to the powdered lye, though, that small amount could briefly get warm enough to damage a plastic bowl. Maybe.

As far as tongs, I find it sortof annoying to use an additional tool while dipping the shaped pretzels. I tried using a wire spider and a wide slotted spatula and in every case I found it was stretching and tearing the dough. Now I just wear long sleeves and chemical handling gloves and dip them by hand, lifting them out with two hands supporting the pretzel (imagine the same motion as a clamshell bucket on a crane).


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Yea, I've got silicone gloves for this sort of thing. They get very slick after dipping, so handling with a tong is pretty tough. A cheese curd ladle is perfect, but I doubt many people have those:

 

[HitLines]

Bumping an old thread but made these again. Next time I'm going to just make "bites" by rolling and baking the snakes cut into small sections.

 

[nettekdl]

Bringing it back again, just tried making for the first time but was too lazy to twist them properly so I just tried to make sticks. Ended up with a mixture of pretzel loaves and turds lol

 

[Yellowirenut]

SWMBO and I where craving soft pretzels the other night. I thought I had seen this thread a year or so back. soooo...

1. With a 4 year old in the house I think I will probably forgo the lye (sigh)
2. Has anyone tried the technique of having steam in the oven to produce a cruncher pretzel?
3. In using the baking Soda method is it necessary to place them in the boiling mixture for 30 sec as AB suggest in his recipe?