Soft Pretzel (Brezeln)

SA Lockdown – Day9
Talk Bierfest and everyone thinks of Beer with a Brezel(singular).
I’ve always liked this, especially the Laugenbrötchen(Pretzel bread roll) or Laugenstange(Pretzel long roll).
I saw a video of Jennifer Garner and she was making this for her son’s birthday, so I looked up the recipe and decided to try it.
The original recipe is from Alton Brown.

Ingredients:
1½ cups warm (43-45ºC) water
1tbsp sugar
2tsp kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast (I used 21g fresh yeast)
4½ cups all-purpose flour
56g unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1tbsp water
Pretzel salt or other course salt

Method:
1. Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
2. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined.
3. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil.
5. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Preheat the oven to 230ºC. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

7. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

8. In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces.
9. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope.
10. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

11. Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula.

12. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture.
13. Sprinkle with the pretzel salt.
14. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate pans in oven halfway through baking.

15. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.