Sourdough Soft Pretzels (Without Lye)
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Soft Pretzel Recipe
Ingredients:
-500 g bread flour
-10 g salt
-275 g water
-100 g active starter
-3 tbsp softened butter - add one at a time after the dough comes together
For the baking soda bath:
-6 cups water
-⅔ cup baking soda
-3 tbsp honey
-Course, flaky, or pretzel salt, for sprinkling
Directions:
1) Mix flour, salt, water, and starter together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2) Knead in the stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, until the dough comes completely together. Alternatively, knead by hand.
3) After the dough has come together, add the butter one tablespoon at a time.
4) Knead until the dough is smooth, soft, and springs back when poked: 12-15 more minutes. NOTE: The dough should NOT stick to your fingers or the bowl. If it is too sticky at this stage, problems will occur later on.
5) Shape into a ball, cover, and let it rest until it has doubled in size.
6) After bulk fermentation is complete, divide the dough into six equally-sized portions.
7) Pre-shape each pretzel into a 24-27 inch long rope.
8) Rest the dough for 15 minutes, to allow the gluten to relax.
9) Shape into a pretzel (see 4:45). Make a “U” shape with each rope. Twist the ends to form what looks like a fish. Twist the ends 1-2 more times to complete the middle twist of the pretzel. Last, bring the top down to the bottom to complete the pretzel shape.
10) Rest on the counter for 30-60 minutes (this will add fluff to your pretzel), then in the fridge for another 30-60 minutes (this will make them easy to handle and give them a beautiful oven spring).
11) Prepare the water bath: Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a 4 qt pot, then reduce to a simmer.
12) Add the baking soda to your hot, simmering water in small portions, whisking continuously, so as not to let the mixture boil over.
13) Once the baking soda has dissolved, add the honey to the pot and whisk to dissolve.
14) Remove the pretzels from the fridge and prepare a work area with your baking soda bath, cold pretzels, a wire rack, and a skimmer.
15) Simmer each pretzel in the baking soda bath for 30 seconds (no more than 40 seconds or your pretzels will develop a metallic taste), then remove using a skimmer and let them fully drip dry on a wire rack.
16) Transfer pretzels from the cooling rack to a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
17) Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes, then at 425 F for 8-10 more minutes.
18) Immediately remove from the baking sheet onto a cooling rack, in order to prevent the bottom from overcooking.
19) Enjoy!
Notes:
-Do NOT butter the pretzels after simmering in the baking soda bath! This will ruin the beautifully dark color the baking soda bath will give.
-You could skip the fridge during the second proof and just let these rest on the counter for 60-90 minutes. They will be super fluffy, but a little more difficult to handle and may not have as beautiful of an oven spring.
-Enjoy these fresh out of the oven. If you absolutely cannot, let them cool as much as possible, place on a sheet pan and flash-freeze. Then, store in an airtight container in the freezer. If the pretzel has not cooled all the way before storage, the salt will dissolve and it just won’t be the same!
I LOVE pretzels and sourdough! This is on my sourdough journey bucket list!
Can they be frozen after they are cooked and cooled? Thank you 😊
Yes! Cool them as much as possible, then flash freeze them on a baking sheet before storing in a bag for the long term.
Great video! Hoping to try this one. One suggestion please either turn down the music or get rid of it. Background music when doing recipes is the worst, esp for hearing impaired people. Thanks
Thank you for the feedback; I hope this recipe works well for you!
Looking for a recipe to make hard sd pretzels, but will definitely will try these.
I had several issues with these due to being new to the sourdough world and having a new starter (14 days old). There was mention of sticky dough and mine kept feeling very sticky. I also couldn’t get a window pane. I added a little bit of flour but that didn’t help. So, I left it in the mixer for a longer period of time. Therefore my dough never doubled after 12 hours. I went ahead and baked anyway knowing they would probably be chewy and they were. Can you please provide your thoughts on what the issue was? Is it because of my new starter? Could it not have been active enough? Or just too new? Did I make the mistake of adding flour? Should I have just kneaded in the stand mixer longer without adding flour? I will definitely make these again! I just hope to work out my issues first. Oh!! I am also wondering if my water was too cold.
It’s definitely the 14 day old starter, which is why they didn’t rise properly. This will correct itself over the next few weeks as you continue to make bread.
This dough should not feel sticky at all. Soft, yes, but not sticky. You were correct to add a little more flour.
Don’t worry about the windowpane. It will come by the end of the first rise. Knead 8-10 minutes and then continue on with the recipe and don’t worry about it.
The water temp may or may not matter depending on your environment. Warm (but not boiling hot) water can definitely aide your rise in cool weather. In the summer, it’s not necessary. I prefer lukewarm water.
How much starter? The recipe says 50-150g. That's a big difference. You didn't say what you used in the video. Thank you. 😊
It’s going to depend on how you want to proof them. I have a video explaining how much starter to used based on your environment and baking timeline goals if you’d like more detail. I used 130 g in the video and used my toaster oven to proof the dough. This maximized proofing speed for me, and I made them all in one day, starting in the morning and finishing by supper. If you want to do an overnight bulk ferment (initial rise) and shape in the morning, I’d recommend using the lesser amount (50-75 g, depending on the temperature of your home) on the counter. Since this dough doesn’t contain any ingredients that will majorly slow down fermentation, this will rise at a pace similar to pizza dough or a regular sourdough loaf.
Let me know if you need more guidance on how much starter to use!
Thank you. I want to make them today. My kitchen is about 70° right now. I just don't want to over proof it. Sourdough makes me nervous. Lol
@@paulamader5655 You’re going to do great!
Because of the low hydration of this recipe, unless you leave them out forever they’re hard to overproof. Just watch for the double in size and you’ll know it’s going to be perfect 👌🏻♥️
My favorite daytime method for this is more starter + something to warm the dough to speed things up. They can be ready to shape in 4-6 hours after mixing.
Very cool! I will have to try this out. I just started a sourdough starter a couple weeks ago
This is one of my FAVORITE recipes and definitely worth the effort. I hope you love it!
Hey, this receipe looks amazing :).
Is it possible to Substitution the baking Soda with baking powder and just add a litte bit more of it to the water? Would love to try them out tonight but the stores are all closed on sunday :(
I have not tested this. I can see how it might be possible, since baking powder contains baking soda. But, the baking soda is a key ingredient here and vital to getting the right taste and color. I would not recommend this substitution.
No
Is the honey just flavoring or what is it doing in the water bath? This looks amazing. Thank you for sharing.
The honey in the water bath is just a little bit of sweetness to offset the baking soda, which can be strong and metallic, especially if the pretzels are soaked for too long. It’s not 100% necessary, but I like the addition
Thank you for the quick reply@@TheSourdoughBaker !
I hope to give these a shot this weekend.
The music nerve racking
I’m sorry! I know it’s too loud in this one (now🤦🏼♀️). I realized later (after I got a better computer and could hear it more clear) that I didn’t turn the music down enough. I’ve attempted to fix this in my more recent videos.
How much starter did you use?
In this video, I believe I used between 115-130 g of starter. But you could use more or less based on your desired rise time and the temperature of your home.
Would using more starter make them rise faster and less would make them rise slower? My home is about 72°. I plan to feed my starter now, then it should double at about 9:30. I assume that is considered active starter? Or I can use my discard in the fridge and feed it and let it double? I am new to this. This will be my first recipe using my starter. I am hoping to do this tonight and let it proof overnight. I hope it proofs a little on the slow side so I can finish around 7 or 8:00 am. 😂
@@lorriroberts2473 You are correct! More starter = faster rise; less starter = slower rise. For an overnight proof, I would use less starter. This recipe does not container any sweetener (sweetener slows down fermentation speeds in sourdough), so with 100 g of starter at 72 F it should double in around 6-8 hours. I’d start with 50-75 g active starter (the starter you fed, that has doubled in size) and see how it looks on the morning. If it isn’t ready, you can use more next time.
Other things to note: A strong starter is always key to the best bread. Since this is a new starter and this is your first recipe, there is no telling how it will act! Hopefully it is plenty active and very strong, and gives you no issues! But, sometimes new starter just isn’t very strong and takes longer to rise or just doesn’t ferment well.
Wishing you the best! Let me know if you have any other questions ♥️
Thank you! I am going to do it now.