Food Journal: Twist and shout Pretzel!

Guess who's back with delicious food recipes?

Yes! I'm back with another episode of my Food Journal, the foodie in me couldn't keep still for a minute, despite the heavy few days I've had.

Today I was searching through my files to see if there was something left unpublished and I found my beautifully twisted Soft Pretzels. That got me in a very good mood, and I started dancing to The Beatles version of Twist and Shout.

As I was dancing, my mom and Gigi looked at me like I was crazy, which I am, and then BAM! I saw I didn't have the step-by-step pictures!

Well, no harm no foul, I still have to make dinner so, I decided to make some today, carefully recorded to show you all how I do this twisted delicious bread.

The first time I made them was at the beginning of confinement in my town, two maybe three months in the quarantine, a quarantine I was sure wouldn't last long. Anyways, I get bored pretty easily and I was getting tired to eat the same things, so I took matters into my own hands, did some research, and on the monthly groceries, I added things that would allow me to vary the menu.

I did my version of Chile con Carne, a Black Bean Salad with wheat flour tortillas, Chocolate Cake on the Stove, Foccacia Bread, and many more, including Soft Pretzels. At first, I was scared to try because they have to be blanched in hot water first before they can go to the oven, and if you don't get the dough right, or do well the twist, they can untangle in the water and you'll get not very esthetic pieces of dough in the water.

Of course, my craving was bigger than my fears so I did them. It was amazing! They looked so beautiful and brown and crispy yet soft inside, man, I'm salivating. All that was missing was cream cheese and bacon, but we still enjoyed them very much, but that was the first and last time I made them, until two weeks ago.

I entered a challenge for Valentine's day that required a very creative picture featuring a heart and the number 14, and I had a hard time figuring out what to make, then it hit me: I have to do dinner, I'll make pretzels and out of the dough I make the heart and numbers.

Easier said than done because as I mentioned before, the blanching is very difficult and this thing became a mess in the water, so I had to fix it before it went to the oven and I burned my hands because it was hot! But every effort has its rewards, the final product came out fine and I got a prize for it. Look!

That time I documented half of the process but not all-I didn't take pictures of the ingredients, not the twisting process, the water blanch, nothing of that-but this time I did and here it is.

Ingredients.

For 6 Medium Pretzels.

3 cups of all-purpose flour.

1 cup of warm milk.

2 tablespoons of instant yeast.

1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.

1 tablespoon of salt.

2 tablespoons of butter.

For the Water Brine:

3 liters of boiling water

Half a cup of Baking Soda.

Preparation

The dough is a very simple dough, especially if you have a stand mixer.

In a bowl, mix the flour with the salt and make a hole in the center, in there add the yeast, sugar, and milk.

Use a fork to mix only the milk-yeast-sugar and let it sit for 5 minutes. After that mix well combining all, and when you have almost all the flour integrated add the butter. Knead until the dough doesn't stick to the bowl if you're using a machine, if you're doing it by hand knead until it doesn't stick to your hands and the surface.

Cover and let it rest for 1 hour. Mine rested longer because I was teaching a class so...

Moving on. Take the dough out and on a floured surface and using your hands, stretch it and make a square, which you will cut in half horizontally and then each half in three, like so.

Take a piece and start to roll it like play dough to make a long strip. The movement should be from the center with the hands moving up and down and to the outsides until you have a 1.5-centimeter thick strip.

Now, take each end of the strip and move it upward, making a U.

Then again, take the ends and twist them two times.

Finally, bring the bonded ends to the center, and that's it.

Here, let me show you!

Before you get to that, you take a big pot and heat up the water until it boils, and add the baking soda. When your pretzels are made, put them in the water for 20 seconds on each side.

Don't put too many otherwise they will stick together and you'll get a big mess.

After the blanching, brush them with an egg wash and sprinkle them with rock salt, sesame seeds, or if you can find them poppy seeds.

Bake in a 220ºC for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown.

They are perfect! Last time I forgot to use baking paper for the tray and they got stuck to the tray, man we had the hardest time releasing them from perdition, but this time I didn't forget and I used baking paper. Glorious!.

They are crispy, yet soft and chewy, and go well with everything. Again, we don't have cream cheese, or sausages and sauerkraut, but we ate them with fried cheese and eggs. The hunger was too much to stop for pictures so, maybe next time.

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The pictures are my property and taken with a Redmi 6Go.

See you next time.

✨✨Blessings✨✨

@rebeysa85

February 22nd, 2022.