HI all,
Here is my first try at soft pretzels and pretzel rolls.
I followed the recipe by Louisa Weiss for the most part, here is the link.
http://www.dw.com/en/luisa-weiss-recipe-for-traditional-german-soft-pretzels/a-36588742
What I changed is I did not use white sugar, instead, I used 1 tbsp. of brown sugar, and added a bit more water. So the hydration was most likely 58%. And I used the lye bath in this proportion 1 liter of warm water and 40g of lye.
I followed her method as described.
And I want to say that yes, the lye bath it is! This is so important! And don't let the warnings about lye intimidate you. It is not scary, just use it properly, with proper precautions. I used rubber gloves. I used a glass deep bowl and certainly, food grade lye. I poured the 40 g of lye crystals into the bowl with warm water (1 liter).
The color is superb, the crust is thin and delicious! The crumb is soft and fluffy, yet chewy, it is just perfect!
The dough behaved just as described by the author, while I was kneading by hand. It stopped being sticky a few minutes into kneading (altogether - 10 min). It was so easy and fun to work with. I recommend to make it, have fun and enjoy this authentic Bavarian soft pretzels.
Happy baking!
Those are amazing Alexandra. Just perfect! Don't know how you do it. Just been admiring your Challah too. Some great bakes this week and your family sure is eating well. If I lived closer I'd put in a standing order.
Lovely.
thank you for such kind words, really appreciate!
Nicely done!
thank you, I appreciate it!
These look great! I love making pretzel rolls and always use Lye. If you want to try sourdough versions let me know and I will send you a link to one of my posts.
Ian
thank you very much!
I would definetly try sourdough version! thank you!
I don't think they could look any more perfect, and they just jump right off the page. You used the fresh yeast as opposed to the dry? I'm curious how much different the result would be without fresh yeast. Congratulations on a beautiful bake. marybeth
Hi Marybeth,
thank you very much, its so nice of you to say it!
Unfortunately, I could not find fresh yeast in the local area. I am sure in the areas, where a lot of Easter Europeans or Russians live, I could find it easy, it's commomoly used in baking. I had to settle with instant yeast. Just like I did with my brioche. From what I understand, it's supposed to make baked goods taste even better, it's supposed to enhance the taste. But I've read some comments a while ago, of a person who experimented with fresh and instant yeast and did not feel a striking difference. So what you see is baked with instant yeast.
And since I mentioned brioche, I can add that it tastes great too with instant yeast. My family loves it. But if I ever come across the fresh one, I'll definetly try baking with fresh yeast.
again, thank you for your comment!
happy baking!