Friday, February 12, 2010

Artisan Breads Every Day - Soft Pretzels

Yet another recipe from Peter Reinhart's newest book.

We love soft pretzels around here. Especially in winter evenings. I have a favorite recipe for soft pretzels. They are super good but seem to take a lot of steps. The biggest bother is cooking them in soda water before baking. I thought soft pretzels just needed this extra step and didn't think to eliminate it.

But the soft pretzel recipe in "Artisan Breads Every Day" is much simpler. After forming the pretzels, they are dipped in warm water which contains soda dissolved in it and immediately baked.

Like most of the recipes in this book, this one calls for an overnight rise in the fridge. A great step to get most of the preparation done ahead of time - but bad for spur of the moment "I'm hungry for soft pretzels." Peter claims the delayed fermentation enhances the flavor and these pretzels were definitely yummy!

As usual, I added some whole wheat flour. Just can't stand using all white flour - and we actually prefer the flavor of whole wheat. I replaced 2 cups of white flour with whole wheat, added 2 T vital gluten and increased the water by 1/4 cup.
I love how puffy these pretzels got. Unlike my other recipe, these were tasty the next day. My daughter turned pretzel making into some letter practice! We'll be making this recipe again!

4 comments :

  1. Hi Gina,
    These look wonderful. I will have to add that book to my wish list.
    Blessings,
    Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete
  2. These look very good. I have made a library request for this book so I can take a look at it. So many of the recipes that you have told about have looked and sounded so good. Anxious to have a look at the book.

    ReplyDelete
  3. They look a lot like bagels to me. I wonder what the difference is between a soft pretzel and a bagel. Either way, I love that you worked wheat into your treat.

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