Soft Pretzels 


This recipe coincided with Super Bowl weekend perfectly, although the pretzels didn't make it to Sunday. In other words they were pretty awesome! Pretzels can be dated back to 7th century Italy, where a monk decided to reward the local children with a snack in the shape of praying hands (people used to pray with their hands crossed from what I've read). He added salt, a sign of purity, and one of the most beloved snack foods was born.

Pretzels are actually closely related to bagels in construction. A yeast dough is briefly dunked in boiling water and then baked. The only real difference is the shape and the salt. One thing about home made pretzels is that they will not have the dark brown colour of store bought pretzels. There are two techniques that can be employed to get homemade pretzels to their signature colour. The first is a dip in a basic solution, the high pH will instantly gelatinize starch on the pretzels surface and denature proteins and yada yada yada. Commercial operations use a solution of lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) and this could potentially work for the home cook but it is pretty dangerous and requires goggles, gloves etc. There is an alternative though baking soda is the most common kitchen base. With a pH of around 9 it is 1,000 times less alkali than lye (pH around 13), but it won't make you look like the guy at the end of Raiders of the lost Ark if you splash a little. The second technique is a simple egg wash. I'm curious to see how much of an effect the baking soda really had, something to experiment with next time I guess. One thing I learned the hard way was: add the baking soda to the water before it boils, or else you will end up with a huge column of bubbles spilling out of the pot, not fun trust me! Other than that little mishap its a pretty straight forward and delicious recipe.

Recipe link: Soft Pretzel Recipe

Culinary insight curtsey of Alton Brown and Good Eats 3: The Later Years