{"id":20399,"date":"2020-09-27T13:56:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T20:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/?p=20399"},"modified":"2025-12-31T12:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:32:01","slug":"pretzels-basic-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/pretzels-basic-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Pretzels &#8211; Basic Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16446\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16446\" style=\"width: 208px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pretzel.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aiif16446\" src=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pretzel.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"164\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The double knot is not necessary, but makes it look pretty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>2 TBL yeast<\/li>\n<li>2 C warm water &#8211; about 105\u00ba<\/li>\n<li>2 tsp granulated sugar\n<ul>\n<li>PROOF ABOVE INGREDIENTS,<\/li>\n<li>then SIFT TOGETHER<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 C brown sugar<\/li>\n<li>6.5 C bread flour<\/li>\n<li>4 TBL salt<\/li>\n<li>2 TBL EVOO<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 C Butter . Cut in<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Optional extra step, replace 1 C bread flour with 1 C sour dough sponge<\/p>\n<p>See Step 15 for ingredients for a water bath you will use after the second rise.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/pretzel-cheese-dipping-sauce\/\">PRETZEL CHEESE DIPPING SAUCE<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Step by Step<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Create a well in your dry ingredients<\/li>\n<li>Add liquids into the well<\/li>\n<li>Pull together with your hands for 10 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Alternately you can use a Kitchen Aid on low for 5 minutes until incorporated, then switch to medium<\/li>\n<li>Finish on the bench for 1-2 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Form into a ball and place in a slightly oiled bowl.&nbsp; Spray the top with vegetable oil<\/li>\n<li>Let rise 30 minutes on the counter, or even better 8 hours in the fridge<\/li>\n<li>If you used the fridge, give the dough 1 hour to come back to room temperature when you are ready to make your pretzels<\/li>\n<li>Divide dough ball into half, then half, then half, then half again.&nbsp; You will have 16 balls of dough.&nbsp; Work one at a time, and keep the others covered with plastic or a damp cloth during that time to keep from drying out.<\/li>\n<li>Roll into a thick rope about 22 &#8211; 24 inches long<\/li>\n<li>Shape into a U with the ends away from you<\/li>\n<li>Criss cross the rope, cross hands again, then bring the ends down, crossing hand again &#8211; creating the knot<\/li>\n<li>Put onto parchment paper lined baking sheet as you finish each one, keeping covered with a slightly damp towel.&nbsp; Occasionally spritz with water.<\/li>\n<li>Allow about 45 minutes to rise\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MEANWHILE PREPARE THE WATER<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Combine the following in a large heavy pot and bring up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer\n<ul>\n<li>8 C water<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 C baking soda to raise the pH level<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 C brown sugar<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 C Beer<\/li>\n<li>1 TBL salt<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Gently float one pretzel at a time into the hot water<\/li>\n<li>Cook about 30 seconds per side<\/li>\n<li>Flip using a spider strainer<\/li>\n<li>Put onto a wire rack to drain for 5 minutes before setting back on your parchment paper lined baking sheet.&nbsp; Brush with egg wash, then sprinkle with Maldon salt.<\/li>\n<li>Put the salted side down on the baking sheet.<\/li>\n<li>Brush the unsalted side with melted butter and sprinkle newly buttered side with salt as well<\/li>\n<li>Optional toppings are Parmesan cheese, pepper, poppy seeds or sesame seeds<\/li>\n<li>Bake 450\u00b0 for 10-12 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Rotate pan<\/li>\n<li>Bake 5 minutes more.&nbsp; Remove when browned.<\/li>\n<li>Cool on a wire rack<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For an interesting pretzel dip, mix 1 block of softened cream cheese with<br \/>\n1 TBL each mayo, chives, sour cream, Dijon mustard<br \/>\n1 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder<br \/>\n1\/2 C grated sharp cheddar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 TBL yeast 2 C warm water &#8211; about 105\u00ba 2 tsp granulated sugar PROOF ABOVE INGREDIENTS, then SIFT TOGETHER 1\/4 C brown sugar 6.5 C bread flour 4 TBL salt 2 TBL EVOO 1\/4 C Butter . Cut in Optional extra step, replace 1 C bread flour with 1 C sour dough sponge See &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/pretzels-basic-recipe\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Pretzels &#8211; Basic Recipe&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grandpas-private-collection","category-sour-dough"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20399"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22960,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399\/revisions\/22960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}