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Preparation time
1h 0min
Total time
1h 20min
Portion
800 g
Level
easy

Ingredients

Soft Pretzels

  • 500 g flour, Ideally Baker's Flour
  • 7 g dried instant yeast
  • 10 g salt
  • 1 tsp barley malt syrup, OR maple/rice syrup or sugar
  • 0.3 litre Milk, use soy milk to make it vegan
  • 15 g Butter, use margerine to make it vegan
  • 50 g bicarbonate of soda, for the lye - I recommend to buy a 500g pack
  • 1 litres water, for the lye
  • pinch salt flakes, OR plain salt OR sesame seeds - to sprinkle before baking

Accessories you need

  • Spatula TM5/TM6
    Spatula TM5/TM6 buy now

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Recipe's preparation

    Pretzel Dough
  1. Mix flour with yeast, then add warm milk, syrup (or sugar) and salt.
  2. Knead everything to a smooth dough. Knead until the dough starts to detach from the bowl, then briefly knead by hand again.

    Don’t over-knead as the gluten structure would build too much. This would make forming the pretzels too hard, as the dough would keep springing back.
  3. Let it rest covered under a clean tea towel for around 45 minutes.

    __
  4. Shape Pretzels
  5. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (~ 95g) and form them in rounds.
  6. Form them into cylinders and let them rest, covered under the tea towel for 5 minutes.
  7. Roll the cylinders into long strings, around 50 cm long.
  8. Form pretzels from these (see video on How to shape pretzels for a guide).
  9. Cool in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.

    This will help the pretzels build a thin skin that will prevent too much lye getting into the pretzels.
  10. Preheat oven to 180 ̊C.

    __
  11. Bathe in Lye
  12. For the lye bring the baking soda and water to the boil.
  13. Bathe each pretzel for 20 to 30 seconds, take them out with a slotted spoon and lay them on a baking tray with baking paper.
  14. Decorate them with the coarse salt or seeds.

    Optional: score them with a bread lame, razor blade or knife.

    __
  15. Bake
  16. Bake the pretzels at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes (check regularly after 10-15 minutes, as baking time can drastically change based on your oven).

    For smaller pretzels reduce the bake time to 15-22 minutes.

    You want the pretzels to be a soft, golden brown, they shouldn't be too dark or crunchy.

    __

Tip

For a great school lunch or picnic snack, make pretzel dogs:

1) Roll out a piece of dough into a long string, as if you wanted to shape a pretzel, and slightly flatten it.
2) Place a (vegan) hot dog sausage on the dough at one end of the string.
3) Roll the sausage over the string, wrapping the dough around it, slightly overlapping over the whole length.
4) Proceed bathing the pretzel dogs in lye, sprinkle with salt and bake.

Option: after bathing the pretzel dog in lye, you can also cut the pretzel dogs into smaller pieces for smaller party snacks or kids' lunch boxes.


To bake fresh pretzels first thing in the morning with little prep time:

1) Reduce yeast amount to 5g.
2) Let dough proof in the fridge over night.
3) Shape, bathe and bake the pretzels.

Thermomix Model

  • Appliance TM 6 image
    Recipe is created for
    TM 6
    For cooking (simmering) at temperatures of 95°C or above (200°F), the simmering basket should always be used instead of the TM6 measuring cup, as the TM6 measuring cup fits tightly in the lid. The simmering basket rests loosely on top, is steam-permeable, and also prevents food spatter from the mixing bowl.
  • Appliance TM 5 image
    Recipe is created for
    TM 5
    If you are using a Thermomix® TM6 measuring cup with your Thermomix® TM5:
    For cooking (simmering) at temperatures of 95°C or above (200°F), the simmering basket should always be used instead of the TM6 measuring cup, as the TM6 measuring cup fits tightly in the lid. The simmering basket rests loosely on top, is steam-permeable, and also prevents food spatter from the mixing bowl.
    Please note that the TM5 mixing bowl has a larger capacity than the TM31 (capacity of 2.2 liters instead of 2.0 liters for TM 31). Recipes for the Thermomix TM5 may not be cooked with a Thermomix TM31 for safety reasons without adjusting the quantities. Risk of scalding by spraying of hot liquids: Do not exceed the maximum filling quantity and observe the filling level markings of the mixing bowl!

  • Appliance TM 31 image
    Recipe is created for
    TM 31
  • Appliance TM 21 image
    Recipe is created for
    TM 21

This recipe was provided to you by a Thermomix ® customer and has not been tested by Vorwerk Thermomix ® or The Mix Australia Pty Ltd and The Mix New Zealand Ltd.
Vorwerk Thermomix ® and The Mix Australia Pty Ltd and The Mix New Zealand Ltd assume no liability, particularly in terms of ingredient quantities used and success of the recipes.
Please observe the safety instructions in the Thermomix ® instruction manual at all times.

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Simple German Soft Pretzels & Pretzel Dogs

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Comments

  • 21. August 2021 - 12:48
    3.0

    I made two versions. One where I followed this recipe to a t and the other batch I made by mixing warm milk with the yeast and letting it sit for a few minutes then adding the rest of the ingredients. The difference was the recipe was more doughy and the other one was a little lighter. I prefer the one where the I mixed the yeast with warm milk first.

    It's quite similar to a bagels recipe.
    There was no instructions for the butter.
    Also how can I make the outside more crispy?

    This recipe was a hit with the kids. It was simple and easy to make. The dough was also easy to work with.

    Thank you.

  • 21. August 2021 - 09:33

    I'm always skeptical about recipes that don't allow the instant dried yeast time to activate. Once cooked you see the yeast granules and the dough doesn't rise much.

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