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Saturday, April 20, 2019

Pretzels (Mel's Kitchen Cafe)


I doubled this recipe because my family inhaled these and was asking for more. 
View original recipe here.

Dough
5 cups (20.1 oz) all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
4½ tsp instant yeast
2 cups (16 oz) very warm water

Topping

½ c (4 oz) warm water (try boiling)
2 Tbsp baking soda
Coarse salt
6 Tbsp butter, melted

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix to just combine. Add the water and mix well, adding more flour, as needed, a bit at a time to form a soft, smooth dough that clears the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it is soft, smooth and quite slack. The goal is to get a really soft dough that isn’t overly sticky. Lightly flour the dough and place it in a plastic bag; close the bag, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest for 30-60 min.

Preheat your oven to 400°. (Originally 500°). Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into 16 equal pieces (about 2.5 ounces each). Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 min. While the dough is resting combine the ½ c warm water and the baking soda, and place it in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved; if it isn’t, it will make your pretzels splotchy. Sometimes I have a hard time getting the baking soda completely dissolved, so I just lightly stir up the mixture right before adding each pretzel.

Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (anywhere from 14-22” long) and twist each rope into a pretzel. Dip each pretzel in the baking soda wash (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 min.

Bake the pretzels for 7-9 min (I baked mine at 500 for only 6 min) or until golden brown. Bake one sheet at a time – it won’t hurt the other pretzels to chill out for a little longer.

Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

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