a January recipe

Well hello again. It's been a while. For me – after all the crazy busy of November and December – January is a month of calm. It's a month for doing these kinds of things: reading (so far, in the past few weeks, I've read this, this and this)and cooking and knitting (right now, this pattern with this yarn in the prettiest silver bought from this yarn shop in PDX) and just being. I love it; it's just what I need.

I've been wanting to make pretzel rolls for the longest time – ever since I had them from Little T Bakery and also made into croutons at Gruner. Last month I was in San Francisco and Wayne, Heidi and I stopped in at Bi-Rite one evening and I got a pretty fine pretzel, topped with pumpkin seeds. It's safe to say that pretzels, in one form or another, have been on my mind for some time now.
 

Today I found myself with a nice bit of free time in the afternoon and so I made them. And, I'm happy to report that they are easy to make, easier to eat. Here's how:

Pretzel Rolls


1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp active dryyeast


Combine the water, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture foams.


4-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 ounces melted unsalted butter


Add flour and melted butter to the mixer bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until combined. Change to medium speed and mix approximately 4 or 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and satiny.


Oil a large bowl (I used grapeseed oil) and transfer the dough to it. Turn once to coat and then cover with a clean dishtowel (not terry cloth as this will stick). Let sit in a warm place til it has doubled in size. This take 45-60 minutes. I use the bread proofing setting in the warmer drawer of our oven, but you can also just put it in a warm place, like on the stove top.


Bring 10 cups of water and 2/3 cups of baking soda to a rolling boil in a wide pot. 
Preheat your oven to 450, with the racks set in the middle.


Meanwhile, turn out the dough and divide into 16 equal pieces. I found that I didn't need to oil or flour the work surface; the dough is very pliable and didn't stick or break at all. I enlisted the help of my 5th grade friend, Sophie, who is the older sister of Liam's best friend, Sadie. I thought Liam and Sadie would like to help, but they were more interested in racing slot cars. Anyway, neither Sophie or I were able to get the hang of actual pretzel shapes so we just made knots. (You could also just roll little balls of dough and then cut an 'x' shape on their tops after the poaching step.) Place the shapes on parchment lined baking sheets. I brushed the parchment with a little grapeseed oil just to be sure they wouldn't stick.


Place the pretzels in the boiling water – I put 4 in at a time – for 30-45 seconds, turning over or pressing down gently to submerge. Remove with slotted spoon back to the parchment lined baking sheets. When all the rolls have been poached, brush the tops with the egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water). Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.


Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating pans half way through – top to bottom, front to back, til the pretzel rolls are a dark golden brown. Let cool at least 5 minutes – this seems to let the crust develop that chewiness that is so good! We ate ours, still warm, with a generous amount of unsalted butter.


These are SO easy and I have a feeling they'll be in heavy rotation around here. I already plan to experiment with this basic recipe, perhaps swapping out some of the water in the dough with beer or buttermilk for extra flavor, different flour combinations and various toppings (coarse ground pepper, aleppo, grated cheese, pumpkin seeds, etc).


One last thing to note – don't store these in an airtight container because the salt will cause them to get soggy and weird. Either have a pretzel eating frenzy, invite some friends over, give the extras to a neighbor or store them in a paper bag.

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I almost forgot to mention that I wrote a short little piece for Volume 2 of Kinfolk. It's called Morning Hours and I'm honored to have a small part in such a truly lovely publication. It's available in print or for iPad.