Posted by Denise Hunt on October 10, 1998 at 12:02:29:
In Reply to: SOFT PRETZEL RECIPES posted by BRENT ZIMMER on March 14, 1998 at 15:23:55:
: NEED SOFT PRETZEL RECIPES
I found a soft pretzel recipe in the October 1998 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The recipe is as follows:
Prep: 20 minutes Rise: 1hr. 15 minutes
Shape: 30 minutes Bake: 14 minutes
4 - 4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1.5 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 tsp. salt
1 slightly beaten egg white
1 Tbsp. water
coarse salt, sesame seed, or poppy seed
In a large mixing bowl stir together 1 1/2 cups of the flour and yeast. Set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, oil, and the 1 tsp. salt until warm(120 degrees to 130 degrees). Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low or medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of the boel constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Shape the dough into a ball.
Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 1/4 hours).
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
To make diamond shaped pretzels: Roll dough into a 14x12-inch rectangle. Cut into sixteen 7x1/2-inch strips. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, make a slit through the dough lengthwise down the center of each strip, beginning and ending 3/4 inch from each end. Place strips 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Pull center apart to form a diamond shape, gently push ends toward one another to form desired final shape.
Bake 4 minutes. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Brush pretzels with the egg mixture. Sprinkle pretzels lightly with coarse salt, sesame seed, or poppy seed. Bake for 10 minutes more or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire racks.
Makes 16 to 24 pretzels.