Homemade Bavarian Sourdough Pretzels

If you love pretzels as much as I do, the thought of making them has rolled around in your head a few times. Actually making them seemed daunting, from shaping right down to the lye bath. I’ll admit that even though its simpler than what I had originally thought it still is a process but worth it 110%.

Lets get started!

Here is what you’ll need:

For the dough mix

• 715g Bread flour

• 135g All purpose flour

• 420g Water

• 20g Salt

• 70g Unsalted Butter (softened)

• 4g Diastatic malt powder

• 250g Ripe (mature) sourdough starter/levain

For the lye bath

You want to go for a 4% lye solution. Make sure you are using food grade lye. We purchased ours on Amazon.

900g water

36g Food grade lye

Now lets prepare the dough!

A word to the wise this is a very stiff and sturdy dough. I like to start out in my kitchen aid mixer and mix with a dough hook just until all the flour is incorporated and then transfer it to the counter and knead the rest of the way. This dough can wreak havoc on your machine so hand kneading is really important.

*If you need to feed your starter do this 4-6 hours prior to starting this recipe.

Start by adding the bread flour, all purpose flour, salt, diastatic malt powder, water (420g), unsalted butter, and levain to the mixing bowl.

Mix until ingredients are well incorporated.

Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto an unfloured work surface and continue to knead by hand until the dough ball is semi-smooth.

Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Continue to hand knead until the dough becomes smooth.

Bulk fermentation

Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rest for one hour.

Turn the dough out onto an unfloured work surface and perform a stretch and fold. To stretch and fold: Take the top and stretch it gently toward the center, and going clockwise take the next portion and pull it toward the center. Continue until you and brought all sides into the center.

Flip the dough over and transfer back to the bowl. Cover and rest one hour.

After one hour turn out dough and apply one stretch and fold. Transfer back to bowl, cover, and let rest one hour.

Shaping

Turn the dough out onto an unfloured work surface. Cover with a towel to avoid the dough from drying out.

Divide the dough into 115g portions.

Make sure to keep the dough covered with a towel at all times during the shaping process.

De-gas each portion heavily. You ideally want as much gas to escape as possible. Be aggressive.

Flatten into a rectangle with the palm of your hand.

Using your fingertips fold down the long top side of the dough and gently press the dough into itself as you roll it into a tube shape. As you roll gently press the dough into itself at the bottom of each roll. Be sure to trap as little air as possible. Seal the end with your fingers. Give it a gentle roll forming a cigar shape with tapered ends.

As you finish each roll cover with a towel before you weigh out your next piece of dough.

Once you have weighed and rolled out your dough pieces, let rest 10 minutes.

Prepare two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Once the gluten is nice and relaxed.

Wet your hands slightly and roll out each piece into long tubes. If the dough surface starts to dry out, wet your hands slightly again. You want the dough to stick to the surface slightly while rolling. You need this friction. (My rolls were about 2 feet in length before I was satisfied)

If the dough resists, let rest for a few minutes to relax the gluten and continue to roll out to desired length.

As you roll out your pretzels leave a slight bulge in center. (optional)

When the desired length is achieved, arrange the tube into an upside down horseshoe.

Cross the two ends over twice near the bottom on the horseshoe. Flip the twist over until you reach the top of the horseshoe and press the ends down to firmly to “connect”. A slight overlap is desirable. (Is there a better way to explain this?)

Transfer shaped pretzel to the baking sheet.

Once all the pretzels have been transferred cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

*Alternatively you can refrigerate for 1-2 hours uncovered and then proceed to the lye bath. Leaving the pretzels overnight greatly improves flavor. If you use this method, you will need to proof the dough on the counter uncovered for 25-30 to form the skin prior to refrigerating.

One hour prior to baking uncover the baking sheets and refrigerate for an additional hour. This helps the pretzels form a skin.

Lye bath

*Be sure to use FOOD GRADE LYE and protective gear. Gloves are a must. Protective eye wear if you are so inclined. You do not want to get this on your skin or in your eyes. Do not use metal in this process. Stainless steel is your best friend. You can use glass but just know that lye can degrade glass over time.

Add 900g of cool water to a stainless steel bowl or saucepan. Do NOT add the lye first.

Slowly whisk in 36g of food grade lye. Make sure not to whisk too aggressively. Keep the mixture well within the bowl. The mixture will start out cloudy but will eventually become clear.

Once clear and starting with the first baking sheet, dip each pretzel for 10 seconds and let the excess drip off.

Place each pretzel back onto the parchment lined baking sheet.

Score each pretzel in a horizontal line in the center bulge.

Once the first sheet of pretzels has been bathed and scored its time to bake. If you are not baking the second sheet of pretzels at the same time as the first, wait to dip them in the lye bath. You want to dip them just before baking and any length of time they wait to go into the oven small cracks will form in the dough. If this happens its fine as it only affect the pretzels visually.

BAKE TIME!

Bake the pretzels in a preheated 475 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for 10 minutes.

Rotate the tray and continue to bake for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the pretzels reach the desired coloring.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Topping these babies is a matter of preference. I like to baste the pretzels with a bit of melted butter, sprinkle with pretzel salt, and dipped in mustard!

These are best eaten the day they are baked but will keep well into the next day. If they last that long!