Four years ago, we (my husband, kids, and I) spent the entire month of November in Munich. I still can’t get over what an amazing experience that was. While we were there, we went out to eat at multiple beer halls, a few of them more than once! My husband and I enjoyed delicious German beer, and my kids became addicted to laugenbrezel (traditional German pretzels).
Since then I’ve tried several recipes in an effort to recreate the laugenbrezel at home. I failed many times because a) dough is not my specialty, and b) I would end up making a huge mess trying to transfer the shaped pretzels from my work surface to the oven (this was during my attempt with a recipe which called for using a baking stone).
I ended up having the best luck when incorporating the boiling method before baking, and using a parchment-lined baking sheet instead of a baking stone. As a result, the recipe I’m sharing is a mash-up of at least 3 trials, along with some tips and tricks that I learned along the way.
Makes your choice of:
2 huge pretzels
4 large pretzels
or 12 pretzel sticks
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110°F)
1 1/2 Tbsp barley malt syrup -OR- 1 Tbsp molasses
1 (1/4 oz.) pkg active dry yeast
4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
9 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F.
In a large bowl, mix together the warm water, barley malt syrup (or molasses), and yeast. Cover with a towel and let sit for 10 minutes. When you remove the towel, the liquid should look foamy. Add the flour, salt, and butter, and stir until it just comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth, about 8 minutes, adding more flour, as needed, when it starts to become sticky. (I end up using almost another whole cup, but it all depends on your climate.)
Divide the dough evenly depending on the shape of pretzels desired.
For huge pretzels: divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a 4-foot rope, tapering a bit towards the ends. Take the ends, cross and twist, and stick the ends to the sides of the pretzel.
For large pretzels: divide the dough in fourths. Roll each quarter into a 2-foot rope, and follow same shaping instructions above.
For pretzel sticks: divide the dough into twelfths. Roll each piece into an 8-inch log, tapering towards the ends.
Let the pretzels rest on parchment paper for about 10 minutes.
In a large dutch oven, bring the 9 cups of water and baking soda to a boil. Soak the pretzels in the solution for 20 seconds (no more than 30 seconds). Work one at a time for the pretzel shapes, and 3 at at time for the pretzel sticks. A trivet with handles makes this MUCH easier (see photos below).
Transfer the soaked pretzels to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and sprinkle generously with coarse salt. Cut a slash across the bottom edge of the pretzel, about 1/4-inch deep. I do this with kitchen shears. For the sticks, cut three slashes evenly spaced diagonally down each stick, also about 1/4-inch deep. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until dark brown, rotating the pans halfway through so they brown evenly (or you can bake one pan at a time).
Serve with softened butter or sweet German mustard.
Visuals
This is what the yeast, water, and syrup/molasses should look like after sitting for 10 minutes. Barley malt syrup isn't easy to find where I am, so I used molasses this time.
Add the flour, salt, and softened butter to the liquid and mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic.
This is what the dough should look like after about 8 minutes of kneading, adding more flour along the way so that it isn't too sticky.
For this batch, I decided to make 2 large pretzels with half of the dough, and 6 pretzel sticks with the other half.
This trivet actually came with my Instant Pot. It is super handy for soaking the pretzels in the baking soda solution because you can just lift it out with the handles, which reduces the risk of breaking the pretzel shape. Then you can just slide it onto your baking sheet.
Cut a 1/4-inch deep slash into the bottom of each pretzel. For the sticks, cut three slashes diagonally down each pretzel. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt before baking.
This is the deep brown color that I always go for.
Two large pretzels and 6 sticks, ready to eat!
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