Yield: 12 jumbo pretzels
Time: 3 hours
4 t yeast (active dry or instant)
1 t sugar
1 1/4 C warm water
5 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 T canola oil
10 C hot boiling water
3/4 C baking soda
Pretzel salt to taste
1 egg, whipped until frothy
1. In the bottom of your Kitchen Aid or Bosch Mixer dissolve 1 t sugar and the yeast in the warm water. I just stir it around a bit with a spoon. Let it sit for 5 minutes, or until the mixture begins to bubble and rise.
2. Add salt, 1/2 C sugar, oil, yeast, and 1 C of the flour. Mix for about 30 seconds.
3. Add the rest of the flour 1 C at a time. This recipe needs ALL 5 CUPS of the flour. It will seem a bit stiff at first, but the pretzels still turn out very soft with all 5 cups. You need this much flour, or your finished product will be more roll like than pretzel like.
4. Once all the flour is added mix on high for about 8 minutes.
5. Let the dough rest and rise for 1 1/2-2 hours. The dough needs to rise until at least doubled in size. This recipe takes a while to rise, but don’t cheat this step. The pretzels will be much more difficult to roll out if the dough hasn’t risen enough.
6. Heat your oven to 450 degrees.
7. Punch the dough down and divide it into 12 equal portions. I used a sharp knife sprayed with cooking spray and a cutting board for this step.
8. Place each piece on a sprayed cookie sheet and let them rest for 10 minutes. Don’t skip this step….unless you enjoy letting the dough rule over you while you shape it. Give it a rest an you will be In-Charge-Marge. Otherwise, the dough is very hard to manipulate.
9. Combine the 10 C water and baking soda in a large pot. Bring it to a boil.
10. While the water heats, roll each dough piece into a long thin rope. Twist it into a pretzel shape.
11. Put each piece (one at a time) into the boiling water for 30 seconds.
12. Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and brush the beaten egg over the top. Sprinkle with pretzel salt.
13. Bake for 8 minutes at 450 degrees. Enjoy!
We opted to leave the pretzel salt off on occasion. When they came out of the oven we brushed butter on the top and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar…..delicious!
