Servings: Yield 12 pretzels
Levain
12g Mature sourdough starter (100% hydration)
58g All-purpose flour All-purpose Flour
58g Whole wheat flour Whole Wheat Flour or 29g whole wheat flour & 29 g rye flour)
116g H2O @ about 70℉
Dough
715g High protein bread flour, malted (King Arthur Bread Flour)
135g All-purpose flour (King Arthur All-purpose Flour
416g H2O
19g Salt
68g Unsalted butter, softened
3g Diastatic malt powder (available at King Arthur) or 2 tbsp barley malt syrup
244g Mature levain (see Levain section, above)
Lye
940g - cold water from fridge
38 100% food grade lye (sodium hydroxide
Maldon salt
DIRECTIONS
The night before you plan to make the pretzel, mix together everything in the Levain section and leave out at warm-ish room temperature. The levain should be mature in about 12 hours.
Note: this dough is extremely stiff. If you’re using a KitchenAid mixer it could cause your machine harm in the long run. You could first mix for a few minutes in the mixer to incorporate, then turn the dough out to the counter and finish kneading by hand (similar to a firm pasta dough). I used my Ankarstrum mixer with dough roller for this dough.
When the levain is mature add the flour, water, salt, softened butter, diastatic malt powder, and levain to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Mix on speed 1 for 2-3 minutes until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Continue to mix on speed 2 for 4-6 additional minutes until the dough becomes smooth and cohesive - an improved mix. I’ve found the stronger the mix the better the result.
Transfer the dough to a container for bulk fermentation and cover with reusable plastic.
Give the dough one set of stretch and folds after the first hour of bulk fermentation. This is easiest if you turn the dough out to an unfloured work surface, and using two hands, stretch each side of the dough out and over to the middle.
Return the dough to the bulk container and let rest until time to divide.
When not handling this dough, keep it covered at all times with plastic. The dough hydration is low, it can quickly dry out and form a skin on the outside. To cover, I’ll drape one large proofing bag plastic over the mass of dough yet to be divided and one bag over the reshaped pieces.
Dump out the dough to an unfloured work surface. Divide into 115g rectangular pieces. For each piece, degas heavily with a flat hand (really be assertive with the dough) and gently stretch it into a small rectangle. The fewer the seams, pits, and uneven sides the cleaner and more uniform the resulting pretzel will be.
Using your fingertips, fold down the long, top side of the rectangle and gently press down into the dough with your fingers to begin rolling a tube . Continue to roll the dough down, gently sealing each revolution until the dough is rolled up. Seal the bottom seam with your fingers or the palm of your hand.
Let the pieces rest for 15 minutes covered with plastic as mentioned above.
Starting with the piece preshaped first, place the piece in front of you so the tips are at your sides. Begin with your hands slightly overlapping in the middle, press down and roll the dough back and forth away from and then toward your body. As you are rolling, start to move your hands outward to encourage the tube to spread out and become increasingly thin as you move from the center out to the tips. Keep about a 3inch bulge in the very center of this rope, this will be the part you later score to open in the oven. Roll your rope out to about 22 inches. Rolle the end to fine tips.
Once your rope is rolled out, grab the two tips and arrange the dough so it loops away from you. Take one tip and fold it over the other side (. Switch your hands so your right hand is holding the new right tip and left is holding the new left tip. Fold the same side over the other as previously done. Grab the two tips and fold them up over the knot in the middle and place each tip on its corresponding side inside the loop.
Transfer the shaped dough the prepared baking sheet. Keep the sheet loosely covered while I’m shaping the remaining pretzels.
Let the dough proof on the counter at room temperature for 30 minutes, uncovered.
OVERNIGHT OPTION: At this point, you could also retard the shaped pretzels in the fridge overnight to make them the next day. Instead of leaving them out for 30 minutes to proof, cut this time in half, cover the trays with plastic and place in the fridge. The next day uncover them and let them sit in the fridge for 20 minutes to develop a skin, then continue with the rest of the process.
Then, transfer the uncovered baking sheets holding your pretzels to the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Be sure to let the dough chill thoroughly and develop a dry skin on the outside. Not only will this make handling easier, it helps the pretzels keep shape when dipping in the lye bath.
Lye Bath
After the one hour rest in the fridge, place two racks in your oven, one at the bottom run and one in the top third. Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C) true convection (if you don’t have a convection oven, you could try 475°F (246°C)).
Setup your station: take out the trays with fully proofed pretzel dough, gather your pretzel salt, a razor blade for scoring, a half-size baking sheet lined with parchment paper and a steel cooling rack inside, a stainless steel bowl for the lye bath, and a pair of rubber gloves. For baking, you can use the baking sheets your pretzels proofed on but they mush either be lined with silpats or oiled. If I did not have silpats, I would get out 2 more baking sheet and oil them just for convenience. Do not bake on parchment as they stick terribly. The goal is to set up an assembly line where you grab a piece dough with gloves, dip it into the lye bath, transfer to a metal rack to drain, then finally place on a baking sheet for the oven.
While wearing long latex or rubber gloves, add 940g cool water to a stainless steel bowl (make sure the bowl is not aluminum, which will cause a reaction to occur). To the water, add 38g food grade lye while gently mixing with a stainless steel whisk or large spoon. The mixture will initially be cloudy, keep stirring until all the powder/pellets are dissolved.
While still wearing gloves, pick up one shaped pretzel and transfer it to the lye bath. Let it sit in the bath for 15-20 seconds and then transfer it to the cooling rack on top of the parchment paper inside a baking sheet. Proceed with the next pretzel in the same fashion until all 6 are on the cooling rack. Transfer the first pretzels to sheet you will use for baking (lined with a silpat or oiled). Move the finished tray aside and perform the same steps with the remaining sheet of dough.
Once all the pretzel have been dipped, carefully flush the remaining lye solution down the toilet.
Carefully score each pretzel using a razor blade with a single straight cut across the top of the bulge and sprinkle Maldon salt. Transfer the trays to the oven.
Bake at 450°F true convection for 10 minutes. Rotate the trays (bottom to top, back to front) and turn the oven down to 425°F true convection for another 8-12 minutes until done to your liking.
Keep an eye on the pretzels in the oven, they will color quickly. Each oven is different and my altitude is 6900 ft. I require a hotter oven and longer duration - adjust as necessary.
Remove the trays from the oven and let cool. These are best the day they are baked, still warm from the oven - but will keep quite well into day two.