I saw sandwiches tonight at My Sweet and Saucy, and I instantly wanted to crawl through my screen and eat them. The post reminded me that I've been meaning to bake a batch of pretzel bread which I saw on another blog not too long ago. It will have to do. It will have to do.
Pretzel Bread / Baguettes (Small Batch)
Makes 4 Medium Sized Pretzel Rolls
Pretzel Dough:
2-3/4 cups bread flour
2-1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast or SAF instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup hot water
Water Bath:
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
Topping:
coarse sea salt
egg white
I adapted this recipe from Desert Candy, to use my bread machine, which calls for adding the dough's liquid ingredients first, followed by dry, yeast on top. I set it to "dough only" and let it knead and rise first in the machine, and then removed it to a pan lined with parchment. I slashed into the bread dough with scissors, covered, and let rise again for approximately 15 minutes while I prepared the water bath. I brought a soup pot of water to boil, and added the baking soda and sugar when I was ready to add the rolls. Boiled the rolls on each side for 30 seconds (they float, so flipping is in order).
Removed to a pan lined with parchment paper, brushed with egg white, and salted. Baked at 375 for 30 minutes.
I found them to be quite tasty, but not as "pretzel tasting" as I would like. Very good, make no mistake (all homemade bread is good), but not quite what I'm looking for yet. I thought they were more like bagels than pretzels, and the baking soda flavor was more pronounced than I anticipated, so perhaps I added too much or the ratio of water to baking soda was off. Still, I have a chicken breast roasted and this will make a lovely sandwich tomorrow.
The action shots:
I loving making pretzel bread, and usually make rolls since I'm too lazy to do the cute twist thing. I like how your recipe only makes 4 large baguettes. I'll have to try this soon!
ReplyDeleteWOW. I don't do much baking, but I really love soft pretzels.
ReplyDeleteJust gotta try this out next weekend (we will be visiting Quebec this weekend).
Will let you know how mine turned out.
Thanks for the post.
how can i acquire these without actually have to make them? can you come to my house and make them for me?
ReplyDeleteYep. Shoot me an address for Mapquest and I'll show up one night banging on your door. But it has to be a night you're cooking duck or something else I want. And there has to be booze.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhhhh yum! I can't wait to try this.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-husband would eat pretzels 24/7 and I got very sick of them. Even the smell grossed me out.
ReplyDelete20 years later and now I love them.
Never even heard of pretzel BREAD, by why not?
I got this recipe from Desert Candy about 6 months ago off tastespotting and have made them half a dozen times or so. I actually made them again yesterday morning. The water bath is really what makes them taste so good.
ReplyDeleteLockness, you're right. I have looked for an easy recipe that didn't make a huge batch, for some time now. Desert Candy's recipe was small and succinct. I automatically discounted any recipe which didn't call for the water bath. Otherwise you're just making pretzel shaped bread.
ReplyDeleteNext time, I'll leave off the salt. Really, it's teh salt crust that requires this bread not be stored in plastic or cellophane, and be used very quickly. Instead, next time I'll just bake them off without the salt, and then, when reheating, moisten the bread, salt it, and bake it at the time of serving. So much better hot anyway, and permits easier storage.
Oh....my! It's not polite to stare, but these really are something else.
ReplyDeleteBlessed are the bread bakers. : D
Did you use Dark Brown Sugar?
ReplyDeleteThat may be where your taste buds were craving
Add a sizeable amount of dark beer to the water bath to give pretzel bread the requisite darkness and pretzelness that makes this type of bread one of my favorites!
ReplyDelete