Brewfest Soft Pretzels
Celebrate Brewfest with soft pretzels served with beer-cheese dip and a hearty mug of ale, while enjoying the celebration near Ironforge.
Equipment
- Very large pot (for boiling water)
- 2 Baking sheets
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp yeast instant or regular
- ¼ cup butter MELTED (or non-dairy butter)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg for glazing beaten
- Kosher or rock salt for sprinkling on top
WATER BATH
- 10 cups water
- ⅔ cup baking soda
Instructions
- Melt the butter.
- Prepare oven: put one rack at the bottom and the other in the center. (If they are too close together the pretzels will be too tall to fit). Do not heat the oven yet, this is just to get it ready.
- In a large bowl, combine the water, sugar, salt, and yeast and allow to sit for a few minutes. The yeast will soften and begin to foam.
- Add the melted butter to the yeasted water, then the flour one cup at a time, until you have a soft workable dough that isn't sticky. (a stand mixer with dough hook works great for this)
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for several minutes until the dough bounces back when poked. Move the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover lightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. (it may need extra time if your room is cold)
- MEANWHILE bring the 10 cups of water to a boil in a large pot, then slowly add the baking soda. Note that the baking soda will foam up as soon as it touches the water (science!) then will quickly go back down. Remove from heat and stir until the baking soda is dissolved. (This sits off the heat and is still warm when we need it; cover the pot if the room is cold)
- Once the dough has risen, divide it in half, then divide each half into 6 equal pieces. (12 pieces total)
- Working gently, roll each piece into a rope about 18-20" long. Fold the rope into a U-shape, cross the ends and do a twist, then bring them back down to meet the curved loop at the bottom of the pretzel. Repeat this process with all pieces of dough.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Working one at a time, gently slide each pretzel into the warm baking soda bath. Spoon the warm water over the top of the pretzel for 30 seconds to a minute, during which time the pretzel should start to puff up. Using a spatula (or two), lift the pretzel out of the water and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with all pretzels.
- Brush each pretzel with beaten egg and sprinkle a little coarse salt over the top. Bake for 14 minutes, rotating halfway through (top shelf / bottom shelf), until the pretzels are a nice dark brown. (Rotating is important or the bottom tray will not brown and will overcook on the bottom.)
- Serve with beer, cheese dip, mustard, and/or honey. Happy Brewfest!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!