Bavarian Pretzels

This reminds me of home. This is one of my favourite things to eat and it was upsetting me so much that I could not find proper pretzels outside the South of Germany (yes not even Norther German bakers seem to be able to make proper pretzels so nothing to feel ashamed of fellow UK citizens). There is no egg in pretzels so you’ll find that they are vegan in most bakeries. However, finding tasty ones is the challenge. You might think they are a lot of effort but actually they are not, the shaping might need some practice but other than that they are really not complicated to make.

Let me show you my version, I might add a video later on as I baked them with a couple of friends already and once I showed them how to shape them they found it super easy.

Prep time	Cook time	Total Time
20 min	30 min	50 min

You can enjoy them as a breakfast, bring them along to a brunch or picnic or even have them for dinner with a nice salad.

Ingredients:

500g flour (I use spelt but you can also use wheat)
7g dried active yeast or (half a cube fresh yeast)
1/4 tsp of brown sugar
125ml lukewarm soy milk and 225ml lukewarm water (you can also just use 350ml milk or water)
1 tbsp salt (+ 1 tbsp Kala Namak and more for sprinkling on)
1 tsp turmeric for a nice colour (optional)
1.5l water
2 tbsp natron or half a cup baking soda

I am going to upload an amazing vegan chive butter recipe soon – still working on it 🙂

Instructions:

Cover a baking tray with parchment paper.
Add the flour into a big bowl make a well in the middle and pout milk and water in and add the yeast. Leave for a couple of minutes and then kneed it until it comes together as a not too sticky dough, then add the salt and kneed in.
Cover with a kitchen bowl and place in a warm, non-draughty place for around 45min and the volume doubled
Preheat the oven and bring 1.5l water to the boil and once boiling add the natron/ baking soda
On a floured surface kneed one more time and make to a around 20cm long roll cut into ten pieces and form into ropes again by rolling but also by holding both ends and make a rotating movement (I will add a video). Most importantly have fun shaping make some really big thin ones or cute small ones 😉
Then it is time to form the pretzels, for this take both ends, twist once and then press the left end of the “dough rope” on the right side of the pretzel and vice versa
Gently one after the other bath the pretzels in the water for around 20-30 seconds, drain and place on your lined baking tray, sprinkle salt on top.
Bake for around 25min until golden brown on 180C.
Enjoy with the amazing chive butter or mustard and a salad!