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We lived in Germany for a while and of course fell in love with their baked goods. Our little village was safe enough for our kids to ride their bikes or walk to the bakery in town with their coins for pretzels.
We no longer live there, so making them at home became a priority. I make them using food safe lye to get that true, deep brown coloring. This recipe also works very well for using my home-milled hard red wheat.
Do I have to use lye?
I want to say “yes” but if it makes you too nervous, I have included a boiled water bath to try to get that pretzel crust.
Food safe lye is doable but you do have to respect the chemical. You must only use a 0.04% lye by weight. This means you will weigh your water and then weigh out 4% of that weight in lye powder. I highly recommend using a large glass bowl or Pyrex to do the mixing and you MUST wear gloves while dipping the pretzel into the lye/water.
Can I make this by hand?
This is a fairly stiff dough, but you can mix this by hand. You can work the butter into your flour mixture with your hands, but a pastry knife would make that easier. You will get a good workout in while kneading, too.
Why do you knock the air out of the dough?
German pretzels are not light and airy inside. They are a more dense bread. So you need to push the air bubbles out of the dough balls before shaping them. This is called ‘de-gassing’.
You will need:
Kitchen Scale
When working with lye, you must be able to weigh your water and your lye powder. A good scale with the screen easily visible and grams measured are necessary.
Food Grade Lye
You must use food grade lye (sodium hydroxide) for this recipe. I buy mine from Amazon.
Glass Bowl
I highly recommend a glass bowl or container for this recipe. Lye will weaken plastics and can react poorly to metal. I have a huge Pyrex bowl that I use for this recipe.
Gloves
You must wear gloves while dipping pretzels into the lye water mixture!
Oven Safe Cooling Rack
I love oven safe cooling racks for a whole host of reasons.
Barley Malt Syrup
This syrup is very versatile. It helps give breads a lovely color. I normally buy mine from Azure Standard when I buy my grains, but Amazon also has it.
Bavarian Pretzels (German Soft Pretzels)
Equipment
- 1 Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide you must treat lye with care, but that's how Germans make these pretzels beautiful
Ingredients
Pretzels
- 2 cups warm water (100° F)
- 2 pkg rapid rise yeast 4-1/2 tsp bulk yeast
- 2 Tbsp Barley Malt Syrup
- 6-1/2 cups bread flour*
- 2 Tbsp course salt
- 1/2 cup cold stick butter, cut into pieces
- course salt for sprinkling
German Way
- 900 g warm tap water
- 36 g Sodium Hydroxide (wear gloves) 4% of the total weight of the water used
Boiling Water Version
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup pale ale beer
Instructions
Pretzel Dough
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and barley malt syrup. Let it proof for 10 minutes or until foamy.2 cups warm water (100° F), 2 pkg rapid rise yeast, 2 Tbsp Barley Malt Syrup
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour and the salt. Add the pieces of butter and using your fingers (or paddle), work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse sand.6-1/2 cups bread flour*, 2 Tbsp course salt, 1/2 cup cold stick butter, cut into pieces
- Pour the yeast mixture into the flour/butter mixture and mix everything until a shaggy dough is formed and water is absorbed.
- Put the dough hook on your stand mixer and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. This will take apx 6 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rest and rise in a warm spot for 2 hours (or until doubled in size). You could also place dough in fridge overnight. This will produce more flavor but the dough will be very stiff to work with.
Shaping Pretzels
- Place cooling rack into cookie sheet and lightly grease the cooling rack to avoid sticking.
- Divide dough into 12 balls, roll them to create tension. Allow to rest 10m.
- Doing one ball at a time: press the air out of the ball with your hand and roll dough into a snake shape. Continue rolling while pressing down and out forming a long snake with a slightly fat center.
- Bring the ends of the dough snake toward you, creating a large "U" shape. Twist the ends 2 times and then press the ends on either side of the fat part of your snake. Carefully put your pretzel onto the greased cooling rack.
- Repeat shaping technique with all dough balls, placing them on the greased cooling racks.
- Chill pretzels in the fridge for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 450°F
German Bake Version
- Just before you pull the pretzels out of the fridge, make your lye water mixture in a glass bowl. Using gloves to protect your hands: weigh out the amount of water you need to cover your pretzels. Using only 4% of the water weight, measure carefully your food lye (Sodium Hydroxide). Whisk until water appears clear. (Weight of the warm tap water x 0.04 = weight of lye)900 g warm tap water, 36 g Sodium Hydroxide (wear gloves)
- Pull your pretzels out of the fridge and remove the cooling rack from the baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Carefully dip each pretzel your pretzels for 30 seconds in the lye water. Allow the water to drip off the pretzel before laying it back on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Repeat with all pretzels. Sprinkle course salt across the top of the pretzel (optional)course salt for sprinkling
- Bake pretzels for 5 minutes, rotate baking sheet and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until they reach the classic dark brown color.
Boiling Water Version
- Combine the 8 cups water, baking soda, beer, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Remove the pretzels from the fridge. Remove the cooling rack from the baking sheet and cover sheet with parchment paper.8 cups water, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup pale ale beer
- Using a spider or slotted spoon, dip each pretzel into the simmering water mixture for 30 seconds (they may float, they may not, stick to 30 seconds). Place them onto the baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Top with course salt (optional)
- Bake pretzels for 5 minutes, rotate baking sheet and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until they reach the classic dark brown color.