Homemade Bavarian Laugenbrez'n (Pretzels)

thegeby.blogspot.com - Yeah, I made those big pretzels you've seen in the Biergarten pictures!

I'd been wanting to try my hand at making the huge, delicious salty German pretzels for a while, but, frankly, I was afraid I'd get it wrong. Furthermore, they involve working with yeast, another reason for intimidation. Turns out the recipe and method are quite easy! Mine may not be as big as the one my friend Carmela is holding in the photo above, but they looked authentic and the taste approached the real thing.

Legend, if not history, has it that Laugenbrez'n were invented by a monk (of course) in either northern Italy or southern France. The Germans took it from there and now it's a staple, especially in Bavaria. No self-respecting bakery would not turn out a pile of them two or three times a day.

There are dozens and dozens of Bavarian pretzel recipes online, but none in my Bavarian or my Franconian cookbooks. All of the recipes are pretty much the same, so I chose the one on a website devoted to Oktoberfest.

The big surprise (to me) in learning about Laugenbrez'n was that the Laugen part of the word means "lye". As in caustic, as in poison as in drain opener and oven cleaner. Yes, real Bavarian pretzels are dipped in a lye bath before baking! Seems the lye treatment is responsible for the perfectly thin, dark, crispy crust, and, fortunately, the lye is rendered inert during the baking process.

My research informed me that lye is not only used in soap-making, but also in curing some types of olives. However, I didn't know if I was up to cooking with lye in my own kitchen. I was so grateful to find a workable alternative: a baking soda bath. Lye makes the pretzels darker and crispier, but baking soda is much safer to work with.

My next step was to seek out some real Bavarian pretzel salt. It's the same chemical as other salt except for the shape of the crystals. You can see the differences among salt crystal types here:

Top row left is rock salt for my salt grinder, top right is pink Himalayan sea salt. Bottom row left is kosher salt; middle (in focus) is pretzel salt, and on the right is table sea salt.

I looked in a couple of supermarkets and cooking shops, but I finally had to order some from German Amazon. The kilo (2 pounds) cost about four dollars.

Once I had all my ingredients gathered, I made up the dough and kneaded it about 10 minutes. It doesn't need to rise. Do NOT store the dough. It becomes tough and impossible to work.

The next challenge was making the pretzels look like actual pretzels. The first step was to divide the dough into eight equal portions.

Next I made each portion into a snake-like roll about two and a half feet long. First make the portion into a thick roll, kind of like a piece of sidewalk chalk. Then put it on the rolling board - the less flour on the board the better. Roll back and forth with both hands starting in the middle of the roll. Move your hands in opposite directions as you roll and leave a slightly thickened "belly" in the middle of the roll. There is a good video on YouTube demonstrating this (start watching at 6:25). You don't need to see mine.

Next was the hard part for me. You have to make this roll into a pretzel shape. Real pros can lift the roll by both ends and flip it around into the right shape in a nano-second. Not me. But I did make an animation of the "manual" way to do it:

If you want to see a good demo of the flip method online, check out this Auntie Anne's University on YouTube. Start watching at 1:05. For the record, I did try the flip method with moderate success. In the photo below, the four on the back row are a result of the manual method. The four in the foreground were flipped.
Next, I brought water to a boil and added the baking soda. It foams a lot when you add it.

FYI, if you were using a lye bath, NEVER heat it and use gloves, goggles and any other protective clothing and gear you can think of. Whether baking soda or lye, from here on the process is the same.

Using slotted spoons or spatulas, place each formed pretzel in turn into the bath for 10 - 15 seconds. Hold it under the water to get good coverage. The pretzels will puff up a little. Remove from the bath and let drip a couple of seconds before transferring it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Immediately after placing on the baking sheet, slit the "belly" of the pretzel with a sharp knife and sprinkle liberally with pretzel salt. You can use kosher or regular salt if you can't locate the good stuff.

Bake in a 400 F (200 C) oven for 18-19 minutes. They will not rise further in the oven but they will turn a satisfying crispy brown:
My pretzels stuck to the parchment while they were still hot. I didn’t risk one getting cool in case it stuck more, but it’s possible that letting them cool first would make them stick less.

My pretzels certainly looked the part!

And they tasted good. But frankly not as good as the bakeries turn out. As cheap and available as they are around here, I probably won't make pretzels at home again until I move to a place where I can't easily buy them anymore. But when I do, you can bet I'll perfect my technique!

One final thing: Eat the pretzels while still warm for the best taste and throw them away after a few hours. They do NOT store well. They get soggy and chewy and the salt melts.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast
1/8 cup (30 ml) warm water
1 tablespoon (20 g) brown sugar

1 1/3 cups (315 ml) warm water
1/8 teaspoon (.85 g) salt

5 cups (600 g) flour

7 cups (1.6 liter) water
8 ounces (227 g) baking soda

1/4 cup (65 g) pretzel or rock salt

Instructions:
Proof the yeast by dissolving it and the brown sugar in the 1/8 cup of water. Wait a few minutes until the yeast starts to foam.

Stir in the rest of the warm water, salt and flour. Knead the dough until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If the dough is sticky, add more flour by tablespoons until it no longer sticks to your hands.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Bring the 7 cups of water to a slow boil in a large saucepan. Add the baking soda and stir. (If you're interested in the lye method, after suiting up in your safety gear, dissolve 2 tablespoons (30 g) of food-grade lye in a quart (1 liter) of water. DO NOT HEAT the lye solution. Use the lye bath the same as the baking soda bath.)

Divide the dough into eight equal portions and roll each into a long whip about 2 1/2 feet long (see above). Form each whip into a pretzel shape. The pretzels will be about six inches in diameter.

Using two slotted spoons or spatulas, place each formed pretzel in turn into the baking soda bath for 10 - 15 seconds. Hold it under the surface to get good coverage. The pretzels will puff up a little. Remove from the bath and let drip a couple of seconds before transferring to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Immediately after placing it on the baking sheet, slit the "belly" of each pretzel with a sharp knife and sprinkle liberally with salt while it is still wet.

Bake 18-19 minutes until crispy brown. They will not rise further in the oven. Remove to a cooling rack immediately after baking.

Serve warm with Weißwurst (Munich's famous mild, white, veal sausage), sweet Bavarian mustard (Händlmaier's is the de facto standard in these parts) and a tall German beer. Preferably for breakfast, like my friend Cyndie here!

Photo for No Apparent Reason:

other source : http://komnatachista.blogspot.com, http://flickr.com, http://docstoc.com

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