WFO Pretzels Hearth Bread and Flatbread Discuss WFO Pretzels in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; Saturday night I took my second step into bread making in the WFO. My wife gave me a book by ...

[stuart]

Saturday night I took my second step into bread making in the WFO. My wife gave me a book by a French baker, now residing in Bath England. Richard Bertinet's book titled Crust, Bread to get your teeth into is a nice addition to anyone's artisan bread library. Full of excellent photography and easy to read information, I recommend it to anyone.

The pretzels were an interesting process as like many good breads they required the use of a ferment dough. When this ferment was added to the flour it took some real mixing/kneading to incorporate it fully. The recipe then specified 100g bits of dough be rolled out to 20cm (8 in) lengths and then formed into the pretzel shape. If found this to be impossible without the pretzel ending up being quite a bulbous knot, even before proofing a further 45-60 minutes. I rolled mine out to about to more like 16 inches in order to achieve a nice looking twist with some space between the arms. (As you will see in the photo below they still came out to be cubby little golden fella's!)

The results were wonderful. My wife commented how beautiful they were over and over, comparing them favorably to the photo in the book. They came out of the oven as the family was enjoying a board game together and needless to say the game was put on hold just as soon as the pretzels cooled long enough to eat. The two batches I made yielded 24 pretzels and they were half gone before the lights went out that night!

[asudavew]

Those look great!

Did you boil them before baking?

Dave

[DrakeRemoray]

Those look excellent!

[dmun]

I've always been intimidated by pretzels because they are boiled in food-grade lye solution.

"food grade" aparently means reduced levels of arsenic, lead, and mercury.

Read the handling cautions before beginning this experiment.

[stuart]

Thanks for the compliments! No boiling.

Ferment dough on day one. Mix with flour, yeast, butter, etc on day two. Proof, cut to size and shape brush with egg (whisked with salt). Proof 45-60 min more, coat with egg once again, sprinkle sea salt and into the oven. Baked at 500 for 10-12 minutes.

I can give specific details to those who want to try them

[christo]

Thanks - I'm thinking over half the forum will want to try these!!!

Please provide more details!

Happy new year!

Christo

[Pizza Man]

Yes, Please...what's the recipe?

Lou

[John Fahle]

Originally Posted by dmun

I've always been intimidated by pretzels because they are boiled in food-grade lye solution.

"food grade" aparently means reduced levels of arsenic, lead, and mercury.

Read the handling cautions before beginning this experiment.

Boiling in lye is insane, and should only be attempted by experts who have proper training and equipment. That stuff is caustic as hell. Much safer (and almost as effective)way to raise the pH of the crust is to boil in a baking soda solution for a minute a side, lift out with a flat strainer, and place on the prepared peel. The boiling will give you the same chewy consistency whether you use lye, baking soda, or just plain water. They may not be quite as dark brown as if you used lye, but on the plus side, this method increases the life expectancy of you and your loved ones by years.

[Pizza Man]

does anyone have a good Pretzel recipe?

Pizza Man

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by Pizza Man

does anyone have a good Pretzel recipe?

Pizza Man

The post ahead of this one has a link.

Click on pretzels.