How to cook a German bretzel

 

Germany is famous all over the world not only for its beer, but also for its snacks. Connoisseurs of the foamy drink like to eat beer with all kinds of sausages and sausages, and salted pretzel. The bakery product has a long history and has managed to get a lot of legends. According to one of them, the form of baking is associated with the image of hands folded on the chest as if for prayer, and the name of the pretzel was taken from the word "vrezitella", which is translated from Old German as hands. According to another legend, the bretzel was invented by a baker, whom the king ordered to bake bread, through which the sun could be seen three times.

The manufacture of pretzels in the old days was strictly regulated. Nowadays, bakers are allowed to let their imagination run wild, but they still take the baking of the branded pretzel with all seriousness. In principle, the composition of the bretzels is simple - flour, yeast, water, the whole difficulty is to give them a dark brown golden crust. To do this, the pretel is briefly put into a solution of baking soda. Our photo recipe will reveal all the subtleties of making real German bretzels with cheese sauce at home.

To make 8-10 pretzels you will need:

1 cup of warm water
1 pack of active dry yeast
2.5 cups of unbeached flour for baking bread
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1.5 tsp sea salt
Vegetable oil
Baking soda
1 tablespoon of barley malt syrup, rice syrup or dark brown sugar
Kosher salt
Corn flour

For cheese sauce:

180 ml of beer (brown ale is best)
2 cloves of garlic
340 grams of cheddar cheese, grate
1/2 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Pour 1 cup of warm water into the mixer bowl. Pour out the yeast and let it stand for 5 minutes. Stir by hand until the yeast is completely dissolved. Install a dough hook on the mixer. Add flour, sugar and salt. Stir at low speed, to a homogeneous state, about 5 minutes. If the dough is sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour. Properly kneaded dough should not stick to the bowl of the mixer.

Grease the middle bowl with oil and put the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and put it in a warm place for about 1 hour so that the dough rises about twice.

When the dough rises, put it on a clean, flour-sprinkled surface and divide it into 8 to 10 equal parts, the size of a golf ball. Roll thin, long sausages. Give the sausages a U-shape, and then bend the two ends inside and weave them together at the bottom of the pretzel.

Put the pretels on a baking tray covered with parchment, leaving about 5 cm between them. Cover the baking tray with a kitchen towel and let the pretzels rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220 °C. cover the baking tray with parchment and sprinkle it with corn flour. While the pretzels rise, prepare a soda solution. To do this, pour water into a Dutch roaster or other wide pot to a height of 10 cm. Add soda in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of soda for each added cup of water. Bring the water to a slow boil. Then add barley malt syrup, rice syrup or dark brown sugar. Gently mix the water, reduce the heat to medium.

When the pretzels rise, gently 1-2 pieces, depending on the size of the pot, lower them into the water. Cook for about 30 seconds on one side, then turn over and cook for 30 seconds on the other. As soon as you are ready to transfer the pretils to the prepared baking sheet.

Sprinkle all the pretels with coarse salt. Bake in the center of the oven to a deep golden brown color, from 15 to 20 minutes. Put the pretzells on the grill and let them cool. And in the meantime, they will cool down, make cheese sauce.

Pour the beer into a glass glass and put it aside. Grind garlic in a food processor. Add chopped cheddar, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Stir until a smooth, creamy consistency is obtained. Slowly add beer. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Put the cheese sauce in a small bowl. Put the prettels on a plate and serve with the sauce.