German Vanillebrezeln Vanilla Pretzels Recipes

GERMAN VANILLEBREZELN (VANILLA PRETZELS)

Steps:

• Sift flour with baking powder into a wide bowl.
• form a well in flour.
• To this add butter, cut into small pieces, 1 beaten egg, vanilla, sugar and cream.
• Work ingredients together with your fingertips until you have a smooth dough that sticks together.
• Form a ball, wrap in waxed paper and chill 30 minutes.
• Break dough off in pieces slightly larger than a walnut.
• With floured hands, roll each piece to a thin rope.
• Shape into a pretzel.
• Arrange on buttered baking sheet and chill 20 minutes.
• Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with chopped almonds, then sugar.
• Bake in preheated 325 F.
• oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
• VARIATION: The almond and sugar topping may be omitted and the pretzels baked and cooled, then spread with White Sugar Glaze.
• WHITE SUGAR GLAZE: For cookies and cakes, and especially for Lebkuchen, 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract, 1 teaspoon rum or brandy (optional), 1/2 to 1 1/4 Tablespoons hot water, or as needed.
• Combine sugar, cornstarch, flavorings and rum or brandy.
• Gradually stir in hot water, a tablespoonful at a time, until you have a smooth thick paste.
• Spread on warm cookies.
• If mixture cools and thickens as you work, thin with additional hot water.
• Sugar sprinkles can be scattered on the glaze before it hardens.
• Makes 1/4 cup, or enough to ice about fifteen 1 1/2 inch cookies.
• Visions of Sugar Plums.

BAVARIAN-STYLE SOFT PRETZELS

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl (or bowl of a mixer), stir together syrup, lard or butter, yeast, 2 cups warm water and half the flour. Add kosher salt and remaining flour and stir just until mixture comes together in a shaggy mass.
• Turn out onto counter (or attach dough hook to mixer) and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and supple. Cut into 12 pieces and let rest 5 minutes.
• Roll out each piece into a rope about 22 inches long. (For traditional shape, the ends should be thin and the center fat.) Lift both ends, twist them around each other once, then bring ends back and press them on either side of fat "belly," at about 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. Then gently spread out "shoulders" of pretzel. Transfer shaped pretzels to an ungreased baking sheet. (Alternatively, form each piece into a round or oval to make laugenbrötchen, rolls.)
• Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a deep bowl, wearing rubber or latex gloves, make a solution of 1/2 cup lye and 10 cups water (or 1 part lye to 20 parts water); pour lye carefully into water to avoid splashing. Dip each pretzel in solution, turning it over for 10 to 15 seconds, and place back on baking sheet.
• Sprinkle pretzels with salt. Bake about 15 minutes or until deep brown. Remove to a rack and serve warm.

AUTHENTIC GERMAN PRETZELS

Steps:

• Add 100g of flour flour, all the yeast and the water into a bowl. Mix, cover with cling-film and leave in a warm place for 5 hours + to create the yeast flavour. After that, add the rest of the flour, salt, milk, malt extract and melted butter. Mix and kneed the mixture to make a firm dough (around 10 minutes) and leave for approx 1 and a half hours or until a point pushed in gentle springs back.
• When ready, knock the dough back and start forming shapes. The easiest is to make batons around 2cm thick. If feeling adventurous, try the traditional shape. Roll the dough out to be a long (40 cm) rope with the middle 5cm bulged to a diameter of around 3 cm, tapering to the ends being around 0.75 cm thick. Bring the two ends together about 5 cm in, overlap them, twist, and bring back to go over the main body. Almost like tying a knot. Leave for 30 minutes uncovered in a warm room to rise and develop.
• In the meantime bring the 1.5 litres of water to the boil in a large pot (around 20cm diameter) and add the baking soda. If you can find food grade sodium hydroxide (lye) use that at 3-4 tbs per litre, but be VERY careful and DO NOT let children near it. ALWAYS wear gloves and eye protection, or do as I do and go nowhere near it!
• Once the dough has risen, place the trays next to a cold window with some wind blowing. A fan can be used if there is no breeze. This develops a skin on the pretzels which gives that special chewy texture. Once done drop the shaped dough into the boiling solution (one at a time) until they float (about 5 second), fish out with a fish slice (or similar) and lay on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with sea salt (lightly at first, you find your own taste preference later) and slash the dough to a depth of around 1cm in the thick part at the top-back. If you want to top with cheese, leave off the salt, and add the cheese once the pretzel is baked, so 5 to 10 minutes extra in the oven later.
• Add the baking sheets to the 200C oven for around 16 minutes, until a nice deep bready brown is seen on the pretzels. Don't go for gold or chestnut, go for brown, the flavour goes with it!
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. They taste good warm, but better when cooled and crisped. Great for eating with beer, on the go, with friends, or cut open and used as the base for cheese on toast.