Laugen-brezeln (soft pretzels)

Makes 8-10 Cakes, Bread and Pastries

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Method

The day before or up to 3 days before, prepare the starter. Combine all the ingredients with 65ml water in a bowl and mix with your hand or a spatula until all the flour is incorporated. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature for around 2 hours, then transfer to the fridge overnight or until you need it.

Around 1 hour before making the main dough, take the starter out of the fridge.

To make the dough, combine all the ingredients, except the salt crystals, with the starter and 180ml water in a bowl and mix with your hand or a spatula to make a very stiff dough. Knead the dough on a work surface for around 10 minutes without using any additional flour, to make a smooth, slightly elastic dough. Transfer to a bowl, cover and prove at room temperature for around 2 hours, folding the

dough once after 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare the dipping solution. Pour 2 litres water into a big stainless steel pan and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, add the salt and stir with a stainless steel spoon. Add the bicarbonate of soda, taking care as it will froth and splash. Leave to cool.

Once the dough has proved, divide into pieces weighing 85g each. Roll each piece of dough into a cylinder. Once all the pieces have been rolled, start again with the first piece,to roll it into a long strand with thin ends and a ‘belly’ in the middle, aiming for a length of 60cm. Make sure you don’t tear your strands – if there is too much resistance in the dough, move on to the next strand. You will need several cycles to reach the length required.

To form into pretzel-shaped rounds, arrange each dough strand with the thickest ‘belly’ section at the top of the round and the ends hanging down, then twist these ends aroundeach other once, to form a loop, leaving two ‘arms’ that hang down. Fold the arms back up to the top of the round ‘belly’, a few cm apart, making sure the ends of the arms are well attached to the middle bit.

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and transfer 4-5 pretzels on to each tray, cover and leave to prove at room temperature for 45 minutes. Uncover the pretzels and put in the fridge for 30 minutes, so a skin can form. Preheat the oven to 250C/230C F/Gas 9. Take the pretzels out of the fridge and dip each pretzel from one tray in the dipping solution for around 5 seconds, then transfer back to the tray. Once the sheet is full, slash the thickest part of the pretzels with a serrated knife and sprinkle salt crystals over. Transfer to the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining pretzels. Serve fresh.

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