How to make real Pretzels, that look and taste perfect.

After seeing different pretzel instructables made with sodium bicarbonate and too soft doughs, i thought i write a instructable for "real" pretzels, that look and taste like the ones from good bakeries.

Supplies

You will need two types of flours.

400g white wheat flour
100g white spelt flour
15g salt
6g malt powder (You can get light colored dried malt extract DME from homebrewer supply stores, or use sugar)
4g instant active dried yeast or 12g pressed fresh yeast
20g cold unsalted butter (If you have to use salted butter, reduce the salt by 1 gramm)
180g cold water
90g cold milk

40g caustic soda pellets or flakes to create a 4% concentration lye with 1 litre of cold water

20g pretzel salt for sprinkling on the pretzels (More on that later)

Step 1: Preferment

The preferment is enhancing the flavour a little bit.

If you don't have the time or want to keep it simpler, you can make the dough without a preferment.

I made it both ways, but i mostly ommit it.

Pour the

100g tepid water in a bowl and add
1g dried yeast and dissolve it by stirring. Then add
50g Wheat flour
50g Spelt flour. Mix and then cover the bowl.

Let it sit at room temperature for about 1-2 hours. You should see first fermenting activities. (It expands and bubbles)

Then put it in the fridge for around 22 hours.

Step 2: Mixing / Kneading the Dough

With a preferment,

add the cold preferment
80g cold water
90g cold milk
3g dried yeast
20g cold butter
6g dried malt exract / sugar
50g Spelt flour
350g Wheat flor
15g salt

Without preferment

180g cold water
90g cold milk
4g active dried yeast
20g cold butter
6g malt extract / sugar
100g Spelt flour
400g Wheat flour
15g saltz

Mix the ingredients, then knead the dough for 5-8 minutes on a low speed in your kneading machine.

Then knead for another 5-8 minutes at a higher speed. (about double the minimum speed)

Double the kneading times, if you need or want to knead by hand.

Don't add water, when you think the dough is too stiff. It's really a unusually stiff dough.

At the end of kneading, the dough should be at room temperature 20-23° C or 72° F.

Keep it covered at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Step 3: Dividing the Dough

Take the dough and divide it into 10 pieces of the same weight. (Should be around 80g)

If you want bigger Pretzels, you can of course divide it into 8 bigger chunks of 100g for example.

Form the pieces into balls and cover at room temperature for around 10-15 minutes to relax the dough.

Step 4: Forming the Pretzels

Roll the dough balls into strands of around 70cm or 27 inches. If the dough rips at the surface, you can roll it in steps and let it relax a a couple of minutes in between.(cover it with cling wrap)

As you can imagine, you should form tapered strands with a belly in the middle to get the typical Pretzel form. (or however you like it...)

Form the Pretzels and press the ends pretty hard onto the belly of the Pretzel.

Put them on baking paper. (I started with standard baking paper, but the lye makes the Pretzels stick to it. So i bought multiple use Teflon baking sheets. This works much better.)

Then let the formed Pretzels rise for 90-120 minutes covered at room temperature.

Step 5: Cold Storage and Skin Buildup

This step is essential for the "real" character of the crust and the stability while applying the lye.

You need to put the Pretzels into a 4-6° C 39-42° F fridge uncovered for 2-8 hours.

During this time, the Pretzels rise a little bit more and the desired skin is forming.

Step 6: Applying the Lye

I want to stress, that real caustic soda makes a big difference in the taste and the optics of a pretzel.

Attention

You need to be aware, caustic soda isn't kids stuff. (alltough its only 4% concentration)

Use protective gear. I use nitrile gloves and eye protection.

If you get the solution on your skin, wash it instantly with plenty of water.

The lye feels slippery/soapy on your skin because it's dissolving it... so it's a good idea to reduce the concentration by diluting it with lots of water as quickly as possible.

If you didn't wear eye protection and get it in your eyes, wash them with lots of water and consult a doctor.

Allways dilute caustic soda by adding it to water and not by adding water to concentrated lye.

A commenter pointed out, that you shouldn't use aluminum with caustic soda. Caustic soda corrodes aluminum. Thanks for that.

So i organized a flat plastic container that withstands the lye. (most food grade containers should)

I added 1.5 liters of cold water and then 60g of caustic pellets in order to get a 4% solution.

In the future, i will only make 1 liter with 40g pellets or even less and use a brush or turn the Pretzels to cover the whole surface.

Since my container has a tight cover, i can use the lye multiple times. (I don't think microrganisms thrive in lye...)

I dip the Pretzels in the lye with a skimmer and put it on the baking sheet until it's full. (half the batch)

Then i score the Pretzels on the back of the belly and sprinkle Pretzel salt on them. Of course, you can sprinkle poppy seeds or sunflower seeds or mustard seeds or whatever you like on the Pretzels.

After that, put the first batch into the preheated oven.

After the first batch is almost baked, i take the second batch out of the fridge and repeat the above steps.

About Pretzel salt:

The real Pretzel salt is different, than coarse sea salt. It's softer to chew and has less salt per volume.

The problem is, i wasn't able to source it over normal channels in household packaging sizes.

You can buy it from a big retailer, but only in 50lb bag size... Cargill Pretzel Salt M

I finally asked my lokal bakery and they gave me some 300g for free. 300g goes a long way.

So if you can organize Pretzel salt, use it. If not, you can use coarse salt, but it's not the same.

Step 7: Baking

Heat up your oven to 220° C 430° F and bake for around 12 minutes.

After 2 and 4 minutes, vent the steam by opening the oven for 1-2 seconds.

Maybe you need to adjust the baking time a little bit to achieve the correct browning. (When this happens, adjust the oven temperature for future batches)

The best addition to Pretzels IMHO is Obatzda.

https://www.instructables.com/Obatzda-Bavarian-savory-cheese-spread/