Receta Soft Pretzels
Whenever I go somewhere and they have
soft pretzels I always want one. I love them, a lot. They're soft inside
with the crunchy exterior and a little salty, yum. These pretzels are
delicious. My favorite is the one covered in chopped candied almonds and dipped
in honey. I could have done it with all eight but I thought better of it
because then I would have eaten all eight. Gently warmed up honey would be
awesome with these but we didn't bother and they were still great.
We served the salted ones with
horseradish mustard and my husband loved them. I preferred them with yellow
mustard. If we would have had whole grain mustard I probably would have gone
with that though. I used almonds from the Emerald cinnamon sugar nuts mix. I
just picked out about 10 and chopped them up and it worked really well. If you
want to use toasted plain almonds you could either chop up plain almonds and
heat them in a dry skillet (watching them very closely!) for a few minutes,
stirring them, until lightly toasted or you could spread the chopped nuts on a
sheet pan and bake them at 375F for 3-5 minutes until lightly toasted (also
watching very carefully). Nobody like the smell of burnt nuts, I don't think. I
know I don't. :)
The only complaint is that these could be
a little crunchier on the outside but when you eat them immediately they do
have a slight firmness to the outside that is lovely with the soft interior.
I'm not really complaining though because I'm sure I will make these again, and
next time they will all have almonds on them :). Happy Baking!
Soft Pretzels
Makes 8 pretzels
Ingredients:
Dough
- - 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- - ½ tsp salt
- - 1 tsp sugar
- - 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (1 packet)
- - ⅞ cup lukewarm water
- Topping
- - 1 cup boiling water
- - 2 tablespoons baking soda
- - Coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
- - 3 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
- - 1-2 tablespoons chopped candied almonds (or plain
and toasted if you prefer)
- mustard
- honey
Directions:
1. Place all dough ingredients in a large bowl or the
bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached.
2. Knead by hand or mixer five minutes or until a
soft and smooth dough forms. The dough will not be sticky to the touch but
may stick to the bowl a bit.
3. Sprinkle dough with flour, cover and let rise
30-45 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 475° F. Lightly grease two baking
sheets or line with parchment.
5. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Add the baking
soda to the boiling water, stirring vigorously to dissolve; allow water to cool
to lukewarm as you shape the pretzels.
6. Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope
(about 18-20″), bring ends around and cross the
center of the rope and drape tails into a pretzel shape.
7. Pour cooled baking soda wash into a 9×9 square
baking pan. Place the pretzels, two at a time, into the water and soak for 2
minutes. Transfer to baking sheet.
8. Bake pretzels for 8-9 minutes or until golden
brown, rotating baking sheet in oven halfway through. Remove from oven, brush
with melted butter and sprinkle with salt or candied almonds. Dip in mustard or
honey. Serve immediately.
Recipe Adapted from Once Upon A Loaf
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