Pretzels

JAS_OH1 said:
Omg tasted like Auntie Anne's in the mall! I made a mustard cheese sauce for dipping. Keeper!
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Sounds fantastic!

Pretzels are an American mystery to me.
Over here they’re tiny dry hard baked things you’d swap for a bag of cashews any day of the week 😂

I see from your recipe link they are some sort of bread product rather than a dry cracker consistency which makes sense as the big ones I’ve seen on American tv shows has always made me wince thinking they’d be a giant version of the hard dry brittle little ones we get here 🤣
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Pretzels are an American mystery to me.
Over here they’re tiny dry hard baked things you’d swap for a bag of cashews any day of the week 😂
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We have both hard and soft pretzels, and the hard ones come in all sorts of shapes.

The soft ones come in all sorts of sizes, from the ones about the size of your hand, to ones nearly as big as a tire.

This is from a local bakery:

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Servatti’s

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Cincinnati Oktoberfest
 
TastyReuben said:
We have both hard and soft pretzels, and the hard ones come in all sorts of shapes.

The soft ones come in all sorts of sizes, from the ones about the size of your hand, to ones nearly as big as a tire.

This is from a local bakery:

View attachment 119417
Servatti’s

View attachment 119418
Cincinnati Oktoberfest
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Do they taste good? They look like they taste like dry bread?
 
The color is from a lye bath in commercial kitchens prior to baking, or from a baking soda, IIRC, and water bath in most home kitchens, since lye is dangerous to work with. The pH change the bath causes makes the skin darken more when baking and gives it a part of the "pretzel" flavor.

Pretzel buns are great with some sandwiches/burgers. I've even made some from time to time .
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Do they taste good? They look like they taste like dry bread?
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Nope, they don't, and I remember pretzels from the UK - nasty, crispy things that break your teeth.
HOWEVER... a few weeks in Cincinnati (English name for Bavaria) and I'd eaten soft pretzels, which are the bee's knees. Absolutely divine, on their own or for dipping in some luscious mustard-based sauce.
I tried to make them a year ago, and the recipe called for dipping the pretzel dough into a sodium bicarbonate/water mix. Not really very successful... I'll have to give it another go.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Nope, they don't, and I remember pretzels from the UK - nasty, crispy things that break your teeth.
HOWEVER... a few weeks in Cincinnati (English name for Bavaria) and I'd eaten soft pretzels, which are the bee's knees. Absolutely divine, on their own or for dipping in some luscious mustard-based sauce.
I tried to make them a year ago, and the recipe called for dipping the pretzel dough into a sodium bicarbonate/water mix. Not really very successful... I'll have to give it another go.
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Mine came out absolutely delicious. I made another batch today per DH's request but made them into pretzel bites instead of the twisty traditional shape because it's much easier and they taste the same with less effort. I made the same mustard cheese dipping sauce. He likes them so much I'm taking my sourdough starter, bread flour, scales, etc. with us on our trip.

karadekoolaid you should definitely give it another try! You can freeze them too. I made a larger batch and froze 2/3rds after shaping them.
 
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