pretzels

Pretzels with a portion of whole-wheat, dipped in 3% lye solution.

Made pretzels before, see here using excess sourdough from bread. Those were egg-washed, I believe, and they were delicious, but not as delicious as these. Some people dip pretzels in boiling water before baking but that seems to me would produce a bagel. Other bakers do not bother with lye -- too hazardous, they deem -- and use a baking soda/water dip instead. I have not tried that so I cannot say. I can say, although shaped incorrectly, these are the best tasting pretzels I've ever eaten. They totally beat the hot pretzels you get from vendors, and they're a whole magnitude of order beyond commercial pretzels.

* pretzels made from
* 1 Cup cool water
* 1/4 teaspoon commercial yeast
* 2 Tablespoons whole-wheat flour (home-milled)
* approx. 1½ cup AP flour (by the tablespoon sufficient to form stiff dough)
* left on counter over night.

Next morning: Divided dough into six segments. Adjusted with flour spread on work surface to re-stiffen the dough which had become relaxed and too moist.

See what I did there? Cold water, scant yeast. Trusted the yeast to multiply under less than ideal condition, that is room temperature. The result is a somewhat aged dough. Aged in comparison to rapidly risen dough. Another day or two in the refrigerator would be even better. By the way, in case you live in the tropics or within the arctic zone, room temperature here is roughly 72℉ / 22℃.

Formed into balls. Rolled out balls into snakes with tapered ends. Shaped vaguely into pretzel shapes. Dipped in lye bath of 2 quarts water, one oz. lye granules.

The lye is a food-grade lye purchased over the internet. It's a bit ridiculous with limited application. It must be handled and stored with great care. How this practice ever came about is beyond me. Apparently by accident, but even so, how would such an accident likely occur in a kitchen, and somebody still had to test it. Jeeze.

Per McGee. (In the oven) The heat and moisture combine to gelate the surface starch. The dough is then salted and baked for about 5 minutes in a very hot oven. the starch gels hardens to a shiny finish and thanks to the alkaline conditions created by the lye, browning-reaction pigments and flavor compounds rapidly accumulate. (The lye reacts with carbon dioxide in the oven to form a harmless edible carbonate.)

These are shaped this way because I was using a small amount of dough for each one and because I wanted to be sure they'd fit on the spider used to dip in the lye bath, which I was uncertain about. Now I know. Next time they'll be shaped more like proper pretzels

Sea salt, coarse gray.

Baked at 375℉ / 190℃, but honestly, I don't think it's that important. I almost baked it hot as I do bread 500℉ / 260 but changed my mind at the last moment. I could have gone as low as 350℉ / 177℃ with no ill effect.

The final step, which I did not do, is a long slow bake to dry them out comletely. I prefer their interior to stay closer to bread.

These pretzels do have a delicious bread-like interior with a delightful and flavorful crisped surface. They're rather small and I ate three consecutively. I can see how they're best consumed the same day.