Roman
Pretzels
A
recipe for soft and chewy pretzels originally made by the Romans. Try brushing
plain pretzels with butter when they just come out of the oven, then sprinkle
with cinnamon sugar. They are also delicious with cream cheese and a variety of
toppings.
1 ¼ cups whole milk, warmed to 110°
2 tablespoons butter,
melted
3 tablespoons
granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons active
dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons non-diastatic
malt powder
2 tablespoons dough
relaxer
1.
Bread machine method: Place all ingredients in the bread
pan. Set on White,
dough and large cycle. Go to step 4.
2. Hand method: In a large
bowl, whisk the milk, butter, sugar,
salt and yeast.
Stir in the flour, malt powder and dough
relaxer. Knead 3 minutes.
3.
Place the dough in an extra large bowl and spray top with oil.
Turn
oven on to 200°,
when you can feel the heat on your
hand, turn the
oven off. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to
rise until double
or about 1-1 ½ hours.
4.
Punch down and use a rolling pin to form a 10 x 6-inch
rectangle. Use a
pizza wheel to cut ½-inch slices from the
long side of the
rectangle. Lift pieces and roll by pressing
palms together and
letting the rope hang from each end to
carefully form a
15-inch long piece.
5. Take each end and swing gently
like a jump rope to lengthen
even more. Each
piece should be 30 inches long. Form a
pretzel shape,
then place on greased baking sheets. Let the
pretzels rise
until doubled.
6. Bring water to boil in a 6-quart
Dutch oven. Drop 2 pretzels
in at a time and
cook 10 seconds a side. Set on greased
baking sheets.
7. Bake 8-10 minutes in a preheated
400° oven or until
lightly browned.
Hint: Brush
with melted butter and sprinkle with Fleur de
Sel or a coarsely
ground salt. Cinnamon sugar is also
delicious. If you
want to add other toppings, brush pretzels
with butter before
baking and then sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Makes 16 pretzels