All Germans love bread, the epitome of German baking and everyday food. Another thing is pretzel or brezel. One of the first things German toddlers start eating when their baby teeth appear is pretzel. For German children, it is almost as indispensable as breast milk. It's not so strange, the combination of crispy crust with soft and airy dough in it and a little salty taste is absolutely irresistible!
The pretzel can be bought in every corner of Germany and its popularity has long stretched far beyond the country's borders.
Originally, pretzel was a Christian fast food. In the city of Regensburg, archaeologists have found charred food remains from the 18th century, including the oldest find of a pretzel to date. It was the art of throwing a pretzel that saved the baker's life 500 years ago, and it's still part of German baking education today—and not so easy to get to.
Have you felt like baking German brezel? Here's the recipe.
What do you need:
500 g flour
3 dl milk
1 tsp salt
1 cube fresh yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
40 g butter
10 dl water
coarse salt
3 tbsp baking powder
This is what you do:
Make a smooth yeast dough of flour, milk, salt, sugar and butter.
Let it rise until double the size.
Knead the dough well and make a roll that is cut into 16 – 18 equal parts divided.
Let them rest for 15 minutes.
Put them in the fridge and let them rest for another hour. DO NOT cover them!
Before the hour is up, boil 10 dl of water and dissolve 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Be careful. Baking soda will make the water splash violently!
Put individual pretzels in boiling baking soda for 30 seconds (they swim – don't sink.)
Remove, drain and sprinkle with coarse salt to taste.
Place the pretzels on a well-greased baking tray and put them in the oven.
Set the oven to 220 °C and leave them on the middle rack for about 18 – 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Warm, and topped with butter, they just taste heavenly!
