Sunday was a good day. My sister-in-law and I went into town (my wife was having none of it, as she preferred to stay warm and dry at home). Heavy rains had kept us inside for a couple of days. With the exception of my wife, we were going stir-crazy and we needed to get out. So, off we went to Best Buy, where I bought a new printer and a high capacity thumb drive. From there, we went to Kroger to do a bit of grocery shopping. And then, we decided to stop off at Superior Bathhouse and Brewery. That’s when the goodness of the day really jelled.
We ordered a Foul Play Stout and a soft pretzel with three dipping sauces; one a spicy mustard, one a thicker sauce with cheese and fake bacon bits, and one a pesto. Due to a glitch with our order, we ended up with a fourth sauce, another mustard sauce. The pesto was fabulous. The beer and pretzel and pesto combination is what got me thinking: I wonder whether I could make a good soft pretzel?
I have never made pretzels. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve made bread. I think the last bread I made was a soft white braided challah, long, long ago. As I recall, though, making challah wasn’t hard. How hard could it be to make pretzels?
The internet makes it easy to learn how to do things like make pretzels. Basically, it involves combining water, flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Then, mix it, knead it, and let it rise. Thereafter, recipes say to divide it and roll out ropes of dough, then form them into pretzel shapes. Sounds easy enough.
I’ve decided, based on what I’ve learned, I’m going to do it. But to make pretzels that taste like pretzels, it’s necessary to dip the formed pretzels in a boiling water-lye bath before baking. Apparently, lye is hard to come by and, if handled improperly, dangerous. But, it’s available. However, most recipes call for using baking soda instead of lye, though it’s generally conceded that the taste won’t quite match that of commercially-available pretzels. Happily, I found an alternative, which calls for baking the baking soda before mixing it in a pot of boiling water. The suggestion, from an article in the New York Times, calls for putting a layer of baking soda on a foil-covered baking sheet and baking it for an hour in a 250-300 degree oven. Baking the baking soda transforms it into sodium carbonate, which gives pretzels their unique flavor and deep brown hue.
When will I do this? I don’t know. But I expect to try my hand at making pretzels soon. I’ll make some pesto dipping sauce, as well, along with a spicy mustard dipping sauce. I’ll have to buy the beer to go with the pretzels. For now. Brewing beer in on my list of things to do, too.
