Pretzels and white whole wheat flour
As Bach got me white whole wheat flour, I thought I would try to make pretzels with it. Of course I needed to be able to compare to "normal" pretzels, so I made a batch of each. Since we can't eat that many pretzels at once, I froze half after shaping and dipping them. In that way this was not a bad idea - I could use the same dipping mixture for double as many pretzels as usual! And there are now pretzels in the freezer, waiting for the right moment to reappear, thawed and baked, in an hour or two instead of a day.
While white whole wheat flour is supposed to be less intense than regular whole wheat flour, it isn't quite bread flour (Perhaps the next experiment should be white whole wheat and whole wheat. Not in pretzel form though.). The flour itself is darker, and so the dough was as well (bread flour is on the left/the back one, white whole wheat on the right/the front one):
When they grow up, they'll be real pretzels!
I should have demonstrated a little more patience with the whole wheat dough, it ripped a bit more easily than the bread dough when rolling. Folding the ripped ends over each other and rolling them together worked out, though those particular pretzels did turn out a little smaller, as I couldn't roll them out as far.
The original recipe suggested dipping the pretzels in baking soda. Traditionally, lye is used to dip, but for some reason, a lot of people are not too happy wearing safety goggles and gloves in the kitchen. Also, it's not really sold at the grocery store. There is an in-between, which is baked baking soda. It's stronger than regular baking soda, but not quite as scary as lye. I found out about it here, it's worked pretty well. The first time I made pretzels, I forgot to rinse them - this left a bit of an unpleasant taste on the bottoms of a few, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.
Taste-wise, the whole wheat pretzels were good, but if you bite into one with the thought "Pretzel", it's not exactly what you expect. I'd like to try them as hard pretzels or crackers sometime though, the texture seemed like it would be fun for that.
As Bach got me white whole wheat flour, I thought I would try to make pretzels with it. Of course I needed to be able to compare to "normal" pretzels, so I made a batch of each. Since we can't eat that many pretzels at once, I froze half after shaping and dipping them. In that way this was not a bad idea - I could use the same dipping mixture for double as many pretzels as usual! And there are now pretzels in the freezer, waiting for the right moment to reappear, thawed and baked, in an hour or two instead of a day.
I should have demonstrated a little more patience with the whole wheat dough, it ripped a bit more easily than the bread dough when rolling. Folding the ripped ends over each other and rolling them together worked out, though those particular pretzels did turn out a little smaller, as I couldn't roll them out as far.
The original recipe suggested dipping the pretzels in baking soda. Traditionally, lye is used to dip, but for some reason, a lot of people are not too happy wearing safety goggles and gloves in the kitchen. Also, it's not really sold at the grocery store. There is an in-between, which is baked baking soda. It's stronger than regular baking soda, but not quite as scary as lye. I found out about it here, it's worked pretty well. The first time I made pretzels, I forgot to rinse them - this left a bit of an unpleasant taste on the bottoms of a few, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.
All grown up
Taste-wise, the whole wheat pretzels were good, but if you bite into one with the thought "Pretzel", it's a bit off - the texture is not classic pretzel, though it's quite nice in its own way. I'd like to try them as hard pretzels or crackers sometime though, the texture seemed like it would be fun for that.
So, here is the recipe:
4 1/2 cups bread flour/whole wheat white flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Coarse salt/sea salt
Mix together the flour, salt, brown sugar and instant yeast. Pour in the water and butter, and mix until it's a coarse ball and becomes smooth-ish, then let it sit for 5 minutes.
Then continue kneading, adjusting flour and water if needed until it forms a smooth ball that is slightly tacky (The white whole wheat flour needed an extra half-cup or so of extra water).
Put this in a lightly oiled bowl, roll around once to cover it all, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a few days, if you don't have the time to bake it the next day).
The next day (or whenever you bake it), mix up the baked baking soda (about 2/3 cup and 2 cups of hot water), put out a bowl of water next to it, take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into 16 or so pieces (depending on what pretzel size you want), and start rolling them out. If they don't like being stretched, roll them out a bit, then let them sit for a few minutes to relax, then go back to them. Let them sit a bit longer when you have them at their full length, so the pretzels won't shrink back into pretzel balls as much (unless that's what you want - then go right ahead!). Then shape them, dip them in the baked baking soda solution for a few minutes, rinse them in the water, and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with the coarse salt (or your favourite pretzel topping) and bake at 350°F-400°F for about 15-20 minutes. Then take them out, let them cool on a rack, and enjoy with butter.
While white whole wheat flour is supposed to be less intense than regular whole wheat flour, it isn't quite bread flour (Perhaps the next experiment should be white whole wheat and whole wheat. Not in pretzel form though.). The flour itself is darker, and so the dough was as well (bread flour is on the left/the back one, white whole wheat on the right/the front one):
When they grow up, they'll be real pretzels!I should have demonstrated a little more patience with the whole wheat dough, it ripped a bit more easily than the bread dough when rolling. Folding the ripped ends over each other and rolling them together worked out, though those particular pretzels did turn out a little smaller, as I couldn't roll them out as far.
The original recipe suggested dipping the pretzels in baking soda. Traditionally, lye is used to dip, but for some reason, a lot of people are not too happy wearing safety goggles and gloves in the kitchen. Also, it's not really sold at the grocery store. There is an in-between, which is baked baking soda. It's stronger than regular baking soda, but not quite as scary as lye. I found out about it here, it's worked pretty well. The first time I made pretzels, I forgot to rinse them - this left a bit of an unpleasant taste on the bottoms of a few, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.
Taste-wise, the whole wheat pretzels were good, but if you bite into one with the thought "Pretzel", it's not exactly what you expect. I'd like to try them as hard pretzels or crackers sometime though, the texture seemed like it would be fun for that.
As Bach got me white whole wheat flour, I thought I would try to make pretzels with it. Of course I needed to be able to compare to "normal" pretzels, so I made a batch of each. Since we can't eat that many pretzels at once, I froze half after shaping and dipping them. In that way this was not a bad idea - I could use the same dipping mixture for double as many pretzels as usual! And there are now pretzels in the freezer, waiting for the right moment to reappear, thawed and baked, in an hour or two instead of a day.
I should have demonstrated a little more patience with the whole wheat dough, it ripped a bit more easily than the bread dough when rolling. Folding the ripped ends over each other and rolling them together worked out, though those particular pretzels did turn out a little smaller, as I couldn't roll them out as far.
The original recipe suggested dipping the pretzels in baking soda. Traditionally, lye is used to dip, but for some reason, a lot of people are not too happy wearing safety goggles and gloves in the kitchen. Also, it's not really sold at the grocery store. There is an in-between, which is baked baking soda. It's stronger than regular baking soda, but not quite as scary as lye. I found out about it here, it's worked pretty well. The first time I made pretzels, I forgot to rinse them - this left a bit of an unpleasant taste on the bottoms of a few, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.
All grown upTaste-wise, the whole wheat pretzels were good, but if you bite into one with the thought "Pretzel", it's a bit off - the texture is not classic pretzel, though it's quite nice in its own way. I'd like to try them as hard pretzels or crackers sometime though, the texture seemed like it would be fun for that.
So, here is the recipe:
4 1/2 cups bread flour/whole wheat white flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Coarse salt/sea salt
Mix together the flour, salt, brown sugar and instant yeast. Pour in the water and butter, and mix until it's a coarse ball and becomes smooth-ish, then let it sit for 5 minutes.
Then continue kneading, adjusting flour and water if needed until it forms a smooth ball that is slightly tacky (The white whole wheat flour needed an extra half-cup or so of extra water).
Put this in a lightly oiled bowl, roll around once to cover it all, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a few days, if you don't have the time to bake it the next day).
The next day (or whenever you bake it), mix up the baked baking soda (about 2/3 cup and 2 cups of hot water), put out a bowl of water next to it, take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into 16 or so pieces (depending on what pretzel size you want), and start rolling them out. If they don't like being stretched, roll them out a bit, then let them sit for a few minutes to relax, then go back to them. Let them sit a bit longer when you have them at their full length, so the pretzels won't shrink back into pretzel balls as much (unless that's what you want - then go right ahead!). Then shape them, dip them in the baked baking soda solution for a few minutes, rinse them in the water, and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with the coarse salt (or your favourite pretzel topping) and bake at 350°F-400°F for about 15-20 minutes. Then take them out, let them cool on a rack, and enjoy with butter.
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