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5 dozen small pretzels
When Dana Cree was the pastry chef at Poppy’s restaurant in Seattle, she used rye flour from Bluebird Grain Farms to make these soft and chewy bite-size pretzels. Plump, golden, and savory, they have just enough rye and caraway to set them apart from the crowd. Five dozen may sound like a lot, but they’re quick and fun to make, and even quicker to disappear. Irresistible plain, they’re even more addictive dipped in top-quality Dijon mustard.
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose bread flour Bluebird Pasayten Hard White Flour works great if you want 100% whole grain pretzel
- 1/2 cup Bluebird Dark Northern Rye Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground caraway seed
- 2 cups warm water (90 degrees F)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces, at room temperature
- 10 cups water
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Methods
- Put the bread flour, rye flour, yeast, salt, and caraway into the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the dough hook attachment to stir together.
- At low speed, add the warm water.
- When the last piece of butter has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium and knead the dough for 7 minutes. The dough should be elastic, but very tight and firm. If the dough seems too sticky, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and cover it with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out while you portion pieces.
- Divide the dough into walnut-sized pieces (20g each if you have a scale), and arrange them on a couple of baking sheets; don’t let the pieces touch.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and set them aside in a warm place to proof (rise) for about an hour.
- When you are ready to start shaping the pretzels, first preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Make a blanching solution by bringing the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a boil in a large pot. (When choosing the pot, make sure the solution will be at least 2 ½ inches deep.)
- The solution should be boiling when you start shaping the pretzels.
- Meanwhile, generously grease a baking sheet with oil or nonstick spray and set it aside.
- Make an egg wash by combining the egg with the 1 tablespoon water; whisk well, until all traces of the egg white have disappeared. Keep the egg wash in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- To shape the pretzels, roll each little piece of dough into a 5- to 6-inch snake and tie it in a knot.
- Once you have rolled and tied 10 pretzels, immediately put them into the boiling solution. Boil each batch of pretzels for 30 seconds, dunking them underwater with a large spoon as they cook. After the 30 seconds, transfer the pretzels to a wire rack using a slotted spoon.
- With the pretzels still on the wire rack, generously brush them with the egg wash, then transfer them to the well-greased baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse sea salt and bake them for 20 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes. If your oven has a convection fan, turn it on for the last 2 minutes of baking to increase browning.
- Cool the pretzels on a wire rack. They are best eaten the day they are made, but you can store any leftovers in an airtight container.
