Things Neniell Made: German (Soft) Pretzels

I wanted to make these pretzels since I found the recipe in one of the old cookbooks. The main reason that I wanted to make these pretzels is that they contain a mashed potato. Potatoes are a great food and anything with potato is possibly awesome. Living up to my super high expectations, these pretzels are great. I will do a few things different if I make these again, but the method I used produced a deliciously edible soft pretzel.

As a note, be sure to grease the baking sheet that you use. I neglected to perform this step and every single pretzel stuck completely. I basically had torn pretzel tops instead of full pretzels. The clean up wasn’t very fun either.

German Pretzels (Printer friendly PDF version)

1 medium sized potato (boiled & mashed)

1 C potato water

1 C warm milk

1/4 C sugar

1 packet dry active yeast

1/2 C shortening

Approximately 7 C flour

Kosher salt or pretzel salt (any large chunk salt might work)

10 C water

3/4 C baking soda

Proof the yeast in 1/4 C of the potato water.

Peel, cube, boil, and mash the potato. I added a little bit of milk to make them creamier. I'm sure that wasn't necessary.

In a bowl, combine the remaining potato water, milk, sugar, and shortening. If it isn't completely mixed at this point, that is fine.

Stir in 2 cups of flour. Make sure this is combined. Add the yeast. Mix in 4 more cups of flour. Add a bit more flour until it isn't too sticky. I think I used 6 and 1/2 cups of flour total.

Dump the slightly sticky dough onto a clean surface and knead. I use the same method that I used in the sweet dough post. (It's the lift, flip, slap down, stretch out, and fold over method.) Knead until the dough is smooth. Shape into a ball and lightly coat with flour.

Place the floured dough ball into a lightly floured bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. (If your kitchen is cold, place the dough in the oven with the oven off along with a dish of boiling water.)

Once the dough is doubled in size, punch it down. Divide it into sections and roll those sections into strips. Let the strips rest for a few minutes.

Cut the strips in half, roll out more, and then twist into the shape of a pretzel. Place on a non-fuzzy dish towel. Let the pretzel shaped dough rise until doubled.

Make a baking soda bath with 10 cups of water and 3/4 cup baking soda. Heat this mixture until boiling.

Once the baking soda bath is hot, place the pretzels in the liquid for 30 seconds. I think I should have heated the solution to a higher temperature, but I was afraid that I was going to burn myself. Next time I'll make the solution boil and not just simmer.

Place the bathed pretzels on a well greased baking sheet and sprinkle them with the salt.

Bake the bathed pretzels for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking time will vary depending on how large your pretzels are and how dark you want them.