Thursday, March 18, 2010

Waffled soft pretzels

Waffled soft pretzels


Ingredients:
 
1-1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Baking soda (for boiling)

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all ingredients (except baking soda). Mix with the dough hook until thoroughly combined, and then until the dough comes together and is smooth — but not sticky — to the touch, 7-8 minutes.
2. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has doubled in bulk. (Gently poke your finger into the dough. If the indentation stays, it's ready for the next step.)
3. Punch down the dough to deflate it and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
4. Line two sheetpans with parchment paper.
5. Cut the dough into 6 pieces, roughly 5 ounces [140 grams] each.
6. To shape the dough, first roll the pieces into cylinders about the length of your hand. Then let the dough relax about five minutes, so that it's easier to work with.
7. Take one piece of dough and form a rope, rolling it against the counter and stretching gently until it reaches about 30 inches [76 centimeters] long. Yes, this looks ludicrously long. It's not. Repeat with remaining dough. You may find that wetting the counter with a few drops of water makes it easier to roll out the dough.
8. To shape the pretzels, form a U with the two ends of the rope pointing away from you. Then curve one strand toward you, bringing the end down and across to rest on the other side of the pretzel. Repeat with the other end, as shown in the photo above. (If this takes you a few attempts, you're in good company; I have very little spatial intelligence. We won't get in to how many times it took me to get it down, but once I did I was able to duplicate the results pretty easily.) Keep in mind, you want the loops to be fairly large in order to compensate for the rising of the dough and the eventual flattening of the waffled pretzel.
9. Place the shaped pretzels on the prepared sheetpans, leaving an inch or so between each pretzel.
10. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled.
11. Preheat your waffle iron. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 quarts [2 liters) of water to a low boil. Add about three tablespoons of baking soda and lower heat to a simmer.
12. Slip a pretzel into the liquid. You may wish to place all but one of the remaining pretzels in the refrigerator to stop their rising, as the rest of this may take a while unless you have six waffle irons.
13. Poach the pretzel for 30 seconds then carefully turn it over in the liquid. (Meanwhile, lightly coat the waffle iron with cooking spray.)
14. Poach the other side of the pretzel for 30 seconds, then remove with a spider or slotted spoon, allowing it to drain over the pan before putting it into the waffle iron.
15. Close the lid and waffle the pretzel.
16. The pretzel will be waffled when it's a sandy brown color, about 8-10 minutes later. They can be tricky to remove from the waffle iron; an offset spatula, silicone spatula and patience are your friends. Allow the waffled pretzel to cool on a rack.
17. Toward the end of the first pretzel's waffling time, begin poaching the next pretzel and remove another pretzel from the refrigerator to lose its chill and be ready for poaching.
18. Repeat with remaining pretzels. Makes about six.

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