Laura doesn’t ask for much… but when she does, I like to make it for her. In any event, many of the recipes you find are very similar… but where they differ is significant and there is a bit of a trick to it.
Dad’s Pretzel Recipe
( a variation of our cracker bread recipe)
3 cups flour ( I prefer Bread Flour )
¼ cup special flour (whole wheat, rye or spelt)
3 tablespoons gluten
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon or package yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup ‘special’ flour (whole wheat, dark rye, or your choice)
1 egg ( white for mix, yolk to brush after boiling)
For 1 dozen
- Put yeast, sugar, salt, butter, water, egg white and 1/4 cup of the special flour into a bowl and mix.
- Mix in remaining flour, mix and place in greased bowl, cover and place in a warm place
- Let dough rise for 1 hour
- Divide into 16 pieces and form as pretzels, cover and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes
- Prepare the baking soda-water mixture and bring to a boil on stove. 5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water in a saucepan.
- Place them into boiling water-baking soda mixture .
- Preheat oven to 475 F
- Let the pretzels boil for on both sides for about a minute a side
- Place on greased pan and brush with egg yolk dip in coarse Salt before baking
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until pretzels are colored desired is attained
Oh, BTW… they were good!