Sourdough Pretzels
Sourdough Pretzels
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| Yield: | 12 pretzels |
Ingredients
Pretzels
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water*
- 1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator
- 3 cups King Arthur Sir Lancelot Unbleached Hi-Gluten Flour* or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
- 2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) non-diastatic malt powder or 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- *Add an additional 2 tablespoons water if using high-gluten Lancelot flour.
Topping
- 1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder or sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- pretzel salt
- 2 tablespoons melted butter, optional
Directions
1) Mix and knead the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon or two of water.
2) Cover the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes. It will rise minimally. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
3) Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface, fold it over a few times to gently deflate it, then divide it into 12 pieces, each weighing about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 ounces.
4) Roll each piece of dough into an 18" rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel.
5) Dissolve the malt in the water. Brush the pretzels with the solution, and sprinkle lightly with coarse pretzel salt.
6) Bake the pretzels for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Note: This is correct; there's no need to let the shaped pretzels rise before baking.
7) Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush with melted butter, if desired.
Yield: 12 pretzels.
Reviews
- 02/06/2012
- We loved these! Thanks for the recipe and the helpful blog!
- 02/04/2012
- These pretzels are GREAT! And I love that you can use the starter right out of the fridge so you can make them right away. They have just the right amount of chew from the sourdough. Wonderful with a little Cheddar cheese.
- 11/23/2011
- These are fun to make and taste great. I love to make them as a snack for my son's sports teams.
- 08/20/2011
- This made a beautiful dough that was very easy to handle. Makes me wonder if I could use this for more than pretzels- maybe pocket sandwiches? I used bread machine for kneading. My family said these pretzels are GRRReat! and I agree.
07/04/2011- Unfortunately I used the recipe that was printed on the Bakers Catalog, and it listed the baking temperature as 325, not 350. I did enjoy being able to use the sourdough starter that I normally would throw away, but it tasted just a bit too bready for my tastes. I will try it again at the heightened temperature, and also try it as buns as another commenter mentioned.
- 06/25/2011
- If you're looking for a traditional authentic pretzel recipe, this is not it. However, it makes great burger buns! Follow all the same steps, but shape the dough into slightly flattened rounds and sprinkle with sesame seeds instead of salt.
- 06/21/2011
- We love this recipe! I also make it with 1 c pumpernickel flour, reduce the white flour to 1-1/4 c, add 2 T dried onions, sprinkle with garlic salt. I had trouble brushing the water/sugar solution, made the pretzels stick to the pan, so I dip the top of the unbaked pretzel in a shallow plate of water. PS The throw away starter is a good feed for septic systems. Since I found this recipe, I now have to feed my starter twice a week, one for the pretzels and one for the septic!
- 06/11/2011
- Very easy and tasty w/ mild sourdough flavor (just right). I am not an experienced yeast baker or kneader. Chilly rainy day. I used unfed (for ~ 3 weeks) starter, AP flour, NF dry milk, sugar, & oil options on 2 large greased trays in a gas oven. I let the dough sit for at least 1.5 hours more than instructions (dough probably could have been worked at the recipe time, but I wasn't ready). It almost doubled, but punched down immediately. I added 1 tsp water (starter dry to start anyway). The silicone mats slid, so we spritzed the stone/synthetic counter top w/ cooking spray & worked right on that. It helped to roll all pieces part way & come back to the first one to finish because they did want to shrink back at first. I kept the ones I wasn't working on covered w/ wrap. It was hard for 10 yr old & me to get uniform thickness of the rope at first, but we chose not to try to fix it too much and it didn't make any significant difference in the degree of done-ness. At the longer end of the cooking time, they came out a light toasty color. They had a slight crust and soft inside - easier to bite off pieces than bakery pretzels - which require a lot of pulling. The family member with the braces and the one with the crown very much liked this texture better. I will make this often. I plan to mix the dry ingredients ahead and seal them for the next time. Then it's only a few minutes of kneading and (after the rise time) with 2 people rolling, maybe 15 minutes of work. Used melted olive oil spread, but butter would be better at the end. Nothing wrong w/ the sugar, but would like to compare w/ malt powder instead of the sugar sometime.
- 06/11/2011
- Very easy and tasty w/ mild sourdough flavor (just right). I am not an experienced yeast baker or kneader. Chilly rainy day. I used unfed (for ~ 3 weeks) starter, AP flour, NF dry milk, sugar, & oil options on 2 large greased trays in a gas oven. I let the dough sit for at least 1.5 hours more than instructions (dough probably could have been worked at the recipe time, but I wasn't ready). It almost doubled, but punched down immediately. I added 1 tsp water (starter dry to start anyway). The silicone mats slid, so we spritzed the stone/synthetic counter top w/ cooking spray & worked right on that. It helped to roll all pieces part way & come back to the first one to finish because they did want to shrink back at first. I kept the ones I wasn't working on covered w/ wrap. It was hard for 10 yr old & me to get uniform thickness of the rope at first, but we chose not to try to fix it too much and it didn't make any significant difference in the degree of done-ness. At the longer end of the cooking time, they came out a light toasty color. They had a slight crust and soft inside - easier to bite off pieces than bakery pretzels - which require a lot of pulling. The family member with the braces and the one with the crown very much liked this texture better. I will make this often. I plan to mix the dry ingredients ahead and seal them for the next time. Then it's only a few minutes of kneading and (after the rise time) with 2 people rolling, maybe 15 minutes of work. Used melted olive oil spread, but butter would be better at the end. Nothing wrong w/ the sugar, but would like to compare w/ malt powder instead of the sugar sometime.
- 05/31/2011
- Great way to use that discard starter. Also a nice way to get kids involved in cooking because it comes together fast and it's fun to roll and shape the dough. Mine never look as perfect as the picture, but they disappear so fast it doesn't matter. Yummy!
