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German-style soft pretzels no lye

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

German-style soft pretzels no lye Recipe, makes four large pretzels 1 cup (237mL) water bread flour (about three cups, 360g, but it really depends so just go by feel) 1 tablespoon melted butter (or oil) 1 teaspoon dry yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt (for the dough) coarse salt for topping baking soda to make washing soda (I use whole box and save the rest for next time) To convert baking soda (sodium hydrogencarbonate) to washing soda (sodium carbonate, pour the baking soda in a pot and turn the heat on high. Stir the pan frequently to make sure all the powder heats evenly. Eventually you'll start to see little plumes of gas escaping, especially when you stir the powder. (It'll look most dramatic if you give the pan a vigorous shake. This is water and carbon dioxide leaving the pan. Keep cooking until you no longer see any signs of gas when you agitate the powder it takes me about 15 minutes. If everything went well, the powder should weight a little less than 2/3rds of what it weighed originally. Let cool and keep dry in a sealed nonreactive container plastic is good. It's mildly caustic, so try not to let it sit on your skin for too long, try not to get it in your eyes or breath a lot of it in, etc. To make the dough, combine the water, sugar, butter, yeast, salt and as much flour as you can stir in with a spoon. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes (this would be a good time to make your washing soda. After it's sat, it will be much easier to knead in some more four enough to get a smooth dough ball that's just barely sticky. Cover and let rise until about doubled, 1-2 hours. Take the risen dough ball out and cut it into quarters. Roll each quarter up into a little log (see video, cover, and let sit for at least 30 min before shaping. To shape, lightly flour your counter, grab a dough log and use flat hands to roll the outer arms of the dough thin while leaving fat belly of the dough intact (again, see video. Roll the rope of dough longer than you think you want it. Grab the ends and make a U shape, twist the ends and then flop them over the belly of the dough (again, see vid. Once shaped, cover and let proof for about 30 min until puffy, or don't. Some Germans prefer to cook them right away for a denser texture. It's much easier to boil the pretzel dough if it's cold almost frozen solid. I recommend putting the fully-proofed doughs in the freezer for 20-30 min while you pre-heat the oven (425 F/220 C, or a little hotter if you like darker, crispier pretzels) and bring your washing soda bath to a boil. Get a wide, deep pan of water for the washing soda bath, and a wide, deep bowl of plain water for rinsing the pretzels after the bath. Turn heat on high and dissolve about as much of your washing soda into the water in the pan as possible, but be conservative it's better to have a solution that's not fully saturated vs a solution with big washing soda particles floating around in it (they could stick to the pretzel and taste bitter. The water should be clear after a couple minutes of heating and stirring. Anything between a bare simmer and a full boil is fine. (This solution is mildly caustic, but not super dangerous. If you get it on your hands, wash it off, but you're unlikely to get a chemical burn unless you bathe in it) When the pretzels are firm, drop them in the hot water and cook for about 15 seconds I recommend doing this one at a time. Transfer to the bowl of plain water and rinse clean (the solution tastes bitter. Transfer to a baking sheet and top with coarse salt while it's still wet (the water will hold the salt in place. Repeat with the other pretzels, and if you want you can score the fat belly of each with a knife to let it puff up more in the oven. Bake until very brown, about 15 minutes. To make the pretzels shinier, you can spray them or paint them with water once or twice during the bake. Easier, though less effective, is to do the same right after they finish baking but are still hot.
Date: 2022-09-29

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Comments and reviews: 14

kradeht
Loved the video as always I have a question though: Why is it that people ALWAYS refrain from using lye for safety reasons? (Yes I know Adam also said its hard to get) In my humble opinion thats like saying I don't (deep)fry things because the oil can burn me. Or caramel and the sorts. While YES, many people of course advise you to be careful with these things. I feel like there just isn't this aura of mysterious danger. Of course lye is corrosive (bare with me here, not a native speaker; please don't slam me if thats the wrong term) but it's not like the solution will dissolve your hand in a matter of seconds. I am no expert, but I would imagine that a drop of super hot oil is way more potent in terms of skin/body-destruction than a drop of lye solution.
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Paul
Mustard! No! Put on some butter, or you could dunk them in hot chocolate milk (nice contrast with the salt) - some people eat them with jam or honey like a bread roll - but most of the time (if they are quality Bretzeln) butter is enough. Sweet Mustard and Bretzeln are eaten with white sausage at certain festivities, but I would never put mustard directly on the Bretzel, like I do with butter. I would typically dip the sausage in mustard and eat the Bretzel with butter on the side - served with wheat beer or apple juice spritzer.
Anyway, just my opinion as a Swabian German from Stuttgart. I love that you are trying this, Adam! Big fan, been watching for years: )
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Alactrium
These seem legit!
You're right, it's more traditional to have chunks of rock salt as a topping, but quite honestly they are way to salty and also, you know, hard.
For a (also traditional but completely different) german pretzel, might I suggest the Martinsbrezel?
Traditionally given out on St. Martin's Day, it's a sweet pretzel. In the Rhineland there are large processions and bonfires on St. Martin's where sugary pretzels are handed out to children who are carrying a home made lanterns. I live in the city now where those traditions are less common, but when I was a child in a village that was one of the coolest holidays of the year.
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ImagineBaggins
FWIW, practically bicarbonate and hydrogencarbonate refer to the same ion. True, the original bicarbonate name is a misnomer as there are not two carbonates present in the structure, but nowadays bicarbonate means HCO3- as does hydrogencarbonate.
A lot of folks ignore IUPAC (chemistry nomenclature people) recommendations when it comes to common chemicals, esp. if they are in the common parlance. For example, for the chemical acetone, IUPAC prefers the name propan-2-one instead, which literally no one has ever said ever.
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Martin
First recipe I've seen with the washing step, I switched to using NaOH instead of NaHCO3 because of the taste, none of the recipes I've tried in the past with boiling baking soda or cooked baking soda mentioned rinsing the pretzels.
Using lye is both easier and harder, don't have to deal with putting them in boiling water, but it does require gloves and safety glasses. Lye does keep your drain clean so that's a bonus.
Pretty easy to get food grade sodium hydroxide from amazon.
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Alexander
I'm German and I'll definitely try your recipe. One of the main reasons I've never tried making Brezels at home despite being from the German South, were they originated, was me being intimidated/not wanting to deal with an aggressive lye.
Thank you Adam, really appreciate your streamlined recipes, that nonetheless still stay faithful to the dish, imho. Am a big fan.
P. S.: as a swabian I appreciate you mentioning the differences between Bavarian and Swabian Brezels
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Chef
Nice to see you got to pretzel making! Very nice episode. I have found that the boiling or blanching part is unnecessary. I put formed Pretzels in the freezer for 10-20 min, just until they are firm set. Then, gently dunk them in a cold bath of my cooked down soda ash. I make the concentration higher with less water, and use tongs. Then, set them again in the freezer for 10 minutes and then bake. You don't get the wrinkly / pruney look that boiled dough can get. Cheers!
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zissou666
As a German and a big fan of your content (video and podcast) I am very happy about your German pretzels.
I do these just like you!
You should cut the belly part horizontalwise and put butter and chives in the middle the best!
Or dip it into Bavarian sweet mustard.
I could sustain on this for months
Thanks Adam!
Btw I have some questions swirling around my head but I am too shy to record it for your pod: )
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Mlem
Is this bakingsoda thing really easyer? I'm German and make Pretzles since years, made my first with my grandma and now make my own. I just use 3 tablespoon soda in 1l water. I never get hurt while doing this, although i'm quite clumsy. Just don't trow youre pretzels in the water xD.
It's like frying or cutting stuff with a super sharp knife, just watch out like everywhere in the kitchen.
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that's
As a German I will never not be triggered by Americans saying Pretzel with a P. Like we're not calling it Hampurgers either. And I'm not blaming you because that's just the way they're called in English, but I definitely want to blame somebody. Gotta be the most off-putting Americanized word.
Thanks for the recipe Adam, I'll definitely give these a try they look gorgeous!
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Ryan
One thing I quickly learned following your bread recipes is that autolyze works WAY better if you leave the fat out in the beginning. Salt can apparently be added later as well. Just mix them in after the autolyze is mostly complete and your result will be orders of magnitude better.
At least mine were. That could be because I was trying to get way more fat into the bread.
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BigALBBQ
I didn't know I was going to be making pretzels for the next 7 months. smh. Since your pizza dough autolyse vid I watched in February I've been making pizza dough like crazy. Now this? My second favorite food? What's next? Sourdough? Sourdough starter? (wink wink nudge nudge) Started mine about a week ago for improving. pizza dough. smh YOU'RE KILL'N ME SMALLS!
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buzzbuzzluke
Hey Adam, have you tried using a calcium hydroxide (often called cal, especially by Spanish-speakers) solution? It's relatively easy to find in a food grade quality where I live in California. I have some in my kitchen that I need to use up, so it'd be good to know if you've happened to find any success or failure in using it for pretzels!
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megustAslagt
Little thing I gotta say as a chemistry teacher: bicarbonate (HCO3 with a single negative charge) is the same as hydrogen carbonate (H+ and CO3 with a double negative charge. Hydrogen bicarbonate would be carbonic acid (H2CO3)
Love your videos btw, in large because you include the chemical background to cooking!
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