The Best Homemade Soft Pretzels

there are two secrets to a goodtraditional pretzel love and draincleaner that’s like a what only beingpartly true by the way[Music]okay so the drink cleaner comment realfunnyahahaha but like I said it’s only partlytrue but I’m really talking about isdipping your pretzels in a weak foodgrade lye solution prior to baking nowwe’ll discuss all this stuff later andthere are alternatives which I’llmention because I know can be scary forsome people but at the end of the daylye aka sodium hydroxide is king forpretzel making it’s just the traditionalwaynow with Oktoberfest coming around thecorner I couldn’t help but follow up mybeer video with a pretzel video it justfelt right now I’m not sure how theGermans are gonna feel about this but mylast name is Weissman so hopefully thatcounts for something which by the way Ifound out that my last name directlytranslates to white man yep greatanyway with that said let’s make thisshall we so before we mix our doughwe’re gonna have to prime our yeast dothat by mixing one and a halftablespoons or 13 grams of instant yeastwith one and a half cups or 365 grams oflukewarm water at 95 degrees Fahrenheitor 35 degrees Celsius then just coverthat and let that sit for ten minutesbefore using then mix together four cupsour 632 grams of bread flour with twoteaspoons or 12 grams of fine sea saltand one gram or 1/2 teaspoon ofdiastatic malt powder now that stuff isoptional but diastatic malt powder isgonna help a lot with not only to flavorbut also just the general browning ofthe actual pretzel so not necessary butvery helpful then just give it a goodwhisk you maneuver until everything iscompletely incorporated make sure tospill a little bit on otherside becauseit’s traditionnow with that flour mixture in the bowlof a stand mixer fitted with the doughhook attachment begin mixing on lowspeed and pouring your yeast and watermix which has sat for about 10 minutesthe yeast mixture should be a little bitbubbly after sitting for that time nowmix the flour and water on medium-lowspeed scraping the sides with a spatulaas needed once the dough forms continueto mix for five minutes then add one anda half tablespoons or 21 grams ofsoftened unsalted butter the dough willprobably break up a little bit when youadd that if it struggles to get thedough back together then you can juststop the mixer and reset it and thencontinue mixing then just mix for two tothree more minutes or until fully mixedand the dough is smooth and elastic thenremove the dough and shape it into alight ball and place it back in the bowlcover with plastic wrap or a damp towelfor 15 minutes once it’s rusted to be atiny bit poofier and now we’re ready todivide the dough so go ahead and dividethat into 8 even pieces weighing about127 grams each if you want to be exactlike myself extra now lots of recipesdon’t dothis but I actually have preferred topreciate my pretzels just to get thatshape going and makes it a whole loteasier later so go ahead and take asegment of dough and lightly shape it insort of like a fat little torpedo aboutfour inches or 10 centimeters longthen just do that with all of yourpieces of dough and place that it on arimmed baking sheet that’s been greasedwith oil cover it with a damp towel orplastic wrap and let it rest for fiveminutes okay so now we’re ready to shapethe pretzels you’re basically gonna takeone of those fat torpedoes and startingfrom the center you’re gonna roll andincrease pressure as you reach the endsthat way you sort of get a taperedeffect and you’re gonna kind of keepdoing that until you get a long taperedtorpedo it’s around 20 inches or 50centimeters long okay now this part’seasy take the two ends and bring themtogether then just take these two endsand then gently cross them over eachother so now that you’ve got afunny-looking pair of pants with crossedlegs you’re then just going to twistthose pieces once then grab both piecesand gently bring it down to the frontand attach those legs to the base gentlyand boom you got yourself a littlepretzel boy then just repeat that withall of your pretzels until they’re wellall shaped then place your shapedpretzels on round baking sheets thathave been greased lightly with oil toprevent sticking I usually do four perbaking sheet but for some reason I didsix and two here I don’t know why justmake sure that they have an inch ofspace between them 10 with plastic wrapor a damp towel and proof at roomtemperature for 30 minutes after thatplace them in the fridge for one hour orovernight then when it’s time to bakethem you’ll bake them straight from thefridge while they’re still coldso before taking them out prepare yourlye solution now listen carefully thisstuff is very dangerous if I’m properlyhandled so please wear gloves and followsafety precaution now this is where alot of people get turned off becauseit’s a little bit scary we’re usingchemicals why are we eating lye and heyyou should be using the food grade stufflink in the description for this one andB you can always just google andresearch why it’s safe now if you wantan alternative because you don’t feelcomfortable with that you can totallyuse baking soda but the results will bedefinitely lesser the ingredients forboth the lye bath and the baking sodabath will be in the description so firstget a bowl of a thousand grams of coldwater then slowly pour and whisktogether 30 grams of food grade lyebeads never ever ever add water to lieotherwise you’re gonna risk the lyepopping and spitting back at you andthat’s that’s no good then just keepwhisking until all the beads aredissolved now take your pretzels anddrop them into the solution for 10seconds per side then place them on awire rack set over try to drip offexcessthen repeat with all pretzels I didthese in a foreword pretzels buy fourpretzels batch then placed the lyedipped pretzels on baking sheets thathave been lined with parchment paperthat have been greased sufficientlyoptionally you can slash the base ofthese with a razor so that they pop opena little bit then sprinkle themgenerously with flaky salt flaky soapbecause you know that’s my style buttraditionally you would use well pretzelsalt then bake these at 425 degreesFahrenheit or 218 degrees Celsiusideally on a convection setting for 15to 20 minutes or until nicely deep Brownthen just pull them out and enjoy yourlabor these are best the day of bakingand even better when eating warm out ofthe ovenin terms of disposing of the live justmake sure that you research what youshould do in your state first and that’sit you can enjoy proper pretzels at homeand have your very own home Oktoberfestyou know what else is gonna have its ownOktoberfest beer old[Music]alright guys and that is it’s sohomemade pretzels is close to the Germanvariety as we can get without you knowactually being in Germany which wouldhelp they’re way better than than abrand that I’m not gonna name but brandthat I’m not naming yeah I’m notprobably shouldn’t say that that was ajoke that was a joke now like I said inmy last few videos I’m going to SanFrancisco in a couple of days in thisvideo we’ll probably be going up aroundthe time that I’m flying out so anyrecommendations on places to eat pleaselet me know I will be there filming avery special video and it is a knifevideo so just to get some insight onwhat you how you guys are feeling if youhave any ideas for recipes that you wantto see done just comment below DM me onInstagram whatever and in the meantimeif you’re not following me on Instagramand Twitter the links are below in thedescription but with all that said ifyou enjoyed this video or you learnedsomethingleave a like subscribe and I will seeyou next time that’s partially it’spartially closed this time I’m gonnajust leave it like that alright we’llfigure this out okay we’re gonna figurethis out this mic is – gosh dang hugebrother[Music][Music]