Hot Buttered Soft Pretzels (23)

 

I was a little skeptical when I first saw this recipe. One hour from mixer to mouth? Sounds too good to be true. But it is, my friends, it is true. And also good. Very good. 

The recipe gives three different mixing methods to make the dough (which I love). You can mix by hand/mixer, bread machine, or food processor. I used my heavy duty food processor, as this is the fastest and easiest way. 

Flour, sugar, salt and yeast went into the bowl of the processor. I pulsed a few times to mix. Then I drizzled in 205g of water, which took about 30 seconds.  Once the water was incorporated, it mixed for a further 45 seconds and voila! Done. From start to finish it took about three minutes to make this dough. 

I put the dough into a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and let rise for 30 minutes. 

When there were about 10 minutes left on the rise, I made the baking soda bath (which the recipe calls a "topping"). I boiled the water in the microwave, then stirred in the soda. It took about 20 seconds to fully dissolve. I set it aside, and placed a parchment sheet on my half sheet pan.

When the timer went off, the dough had risen, but definitely not doubled. I proceeded anyway, as the directions specified time elapse, not size increase. Using a scale, I divided the dough into eight pieces.  After that, they needed to rest for five minutes. During the rest, I turned the oven to 475, and poured the baking soda bath into a 9" square pan. 

Now, we roll. I used a slightly different method than the recipe specified. They want you to roll, twist, and soak four pretzels at a time (two batches). I did it all as a continual process line, with the help of Andrew. This is what we did: I rolled one piece of dough to 30". He twisted it, placed it in the bath, and set a timer for 2 minutes. While he was twisting, bathing, and setting the timer, I had simultaneously rolled out a 2nd piece of dough for him. So we worked in tandem to get it all done. By then end, my 9 year old was a pro pretzel twister. 

We fenagled all eight pieces on the sheet pan (it's a tight squeeze) and sprinkled them with kosher salt. They rested, uncovered for 10 minutes before going into the oven. 

I set the timer for eight minutes, as specified, and boy were they dark golden and perfect. That baking soda browned them up quickly. Don't forget to set that timer. 

When they came out of the oven, I started brushing on the butter. And brushing. And brushing. This is A LOT of butter for eight pretzels.  Of course, the minute they were done, we all devoured them. Pretzels are best when eaten warm. 

The outside had a bit of chew (best you can do unless you have food grade lye on hand). The inside was soft but sturdy. And oh, did they taste like butter. No other toppings needed. Of course, my personal preference would have been a fraction of this amount of butter, and then dipping them in mustard. 

Overall, we loved the taste and texture of these pretzels. I loved having my son help in the kitchen. And it was fantastic that this took such a short amount of time. 

Scores (out of 5): Breanna-4.5 Dustin-4. Michael-5. James-4.5 Andrew-5. Total 23/25

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/hot-buttered-soft-pretzels-recipe