Brezel

[Sodium hydroxide is a caustic hazardous substance; when working with it, you must protect yourself and surfaces from falling solution drops. The solution is prepared in a thick-walled plastic container with a lid (I diluted it in glass laboratory glassware). Store sodium hydroxide in a special place with other household chemicals, out of the reach of children and animals. Any chemistry is especially dangerous for children, therefore, if there is a child in the house, hide the packaging with a hazardous substance in a safe place.]

Brezel

Category: Confectionery

Kitchen: german

Ingredients
Wheat flour	340-350 g
Salt	1/2 tsp
Sugar	1/2 tsp
Powdered milk	1 tsp
Butter	8 g
Fresh yeast	8 g (or 4 g dry)
Water	85 ml
Coarse sea salt	1/4 tsp
Sodium hydroxide (CAUTION!)	30 g

Cooking method

• I took this recipe from the book "Bread and Rolls" by DD Darina after a trip to Germany, where I happened to see and taste real pretzels. This recipe seems to me quite reliable.
• Just want to draw your attention to the rules for working with sodium hydroxide. The author of the book writes: "Sodium hydroxide is a caustic hazardous substance; when working with it, you must protect yourself and surfaces from falling solution drops. The solution is prepared in a thick-walled plastic container with a lid (I diluted it in glass laboratory glassware). Store sodium hydroxide in a special place with other household chemicals, out of the reach of children and animals. Any chemistry is especially dangerous for children, therefore, if there is a child in the house, hide the packaging with a hazardous substance in a safe place."
• It is also important to know that it is thanks to the special procedure of dipping the dough piece in a weak alkali solution (sodium hydroxide) that the pretzel has a crispy and shiny brown crust. Sodium hydroxide (food additive E - 524) is a caustic and corrosive substance in concentrated form. It belongs to the substances of the second hazard class. When working with him, you must be extremely careful and careful. In contact with the skin, mucous membranes and eyes, serious chemical burns are formed. In case of accidental contact of mucous surfaces with caustic alkali, it is necessary to immediately rinse the affected area with a stream of water, and if it comes into contact with the skin, with a weak solution of acetic acid. Only a 3% caustic soda solution is used to bake pretzels. To prepare it, you need to mix caustic soda (it is sodium hydroxide) with water in a ratio of 30 g per 1 liter of water with a whisk. WORK IN RUBBER GLOVES !!!
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, milk powder and butter.
• Dissolve the yeast in another bowl with warm water.
• Combine both mixtures. Mix with your hand.
• Transfer the dough from the bowl to the table.
• Tearing the dough, rub it on the table, moving your hands in opposite directions towards you and away from you.
• Gather the dough into a single mass, clean your hands.
• Fold the dough in half and press down with both hands.
• Knead the dough for 15 minutes, bending it in half and then pressing with both hands.
• Continue to knead the dough by folding in half and pressing with your wrist.
• The dough should turn out to be homogeneous and plastic, put it in a proofing bowl for 30 minutes at 28-30 gr. FROM.
• Divide the dough into 55 g portions.
• Put a piece in the palm of your hand, squeeze with the other palm.
• Round the dough by using your fingers to smooth the dough in a circular motion to form a ball.
• Put the balls of dough on the table, cover with plastic, leave for 10 minutes.
• Dilute sodium hydroxide in water according to the INSTRUCTIONS (this solution contributes to the formation of a unique crispy crust), WHICH I BEGIN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE RECIPE! Please pay attention to the rules for working with sodium hydroxide at home!
• After 10 minutes, flatten the dough ball into a cake.
• Roll out the cake with a rolling pin into an oval pancake about 40 * 20 cm.
• Place the formed cakes under a plastic wrap.
• 
• Using a rolling pin, roll out the cake into a thin pancake 40-50 cm long.
• 
• (This is where the recently purchased small rolling pin came in handy! It is very convenient for her to work, a large rolling pin will not work that way.)
• Start rolling the cake from top to bottom.
• As it rolls down, additionally stretch and level the dough sections.
• 
• To do this, lift the dough with your palm, press it with the other hand and stretch it slightly. Roll the cake completely into a sausage.
• Do the same for other cakes.
• Spray the table surface lightly with water.
• Roll out the dough sausage on the table.
• Roll the sausage into a long strand 60 cm long. The ends of the sausage should be thicker than the middle.
• Cross the ends of the bundle.
• Interpret the ends.
• Raise them, slightly spreading them apart, stick them to the sides of the pretzel. Tighten the lower sides.
• Place the shaped pieces on a linen towel.
• If the bottom of the pretzels is damp, lightly dust the towel with flour.
• 
• Wrap in polyethylene, let stand for 30 minutes at 32 g. FROM.
• Place the container with sodium hydroxide on a table covered with polyethylene. Prepare rubber gloves.
• Wearing gloves, dip the products in the solution.
• Transfer the pretzels to a lined baking sheet.
• Make a cut with a blade on the bottom of the product.
• Sprinkle the incision with coarse salt.
• 
• 
• Sprinkle with plenty of water before baking.
• Bake pretzels for 18-20 minutes at 230 gr. FROM.
• Anyone who has a baking stone or substitutes, I recommend using.
• 
• 
• 

The dish is designed for

12 pcs.

Time for preparing:

2 h 30 min

Cooking program:

Oven

Note

On the eve of Oktoberfest, I tried hard, but found caustic soda and baked delicious pretzels!
The perfect snack for beer and for any snack!
The dish is universal, it will also decorate Christmas!

P.S. I know there is already a recipe here pretzels, but it has a more simplified technology for preparing these pretzels.

Irisha, great MK, and wonderful pretzels !!!

[Irish]

Irish, great pretzels!
Thanks for the detailed story about molding!

PS Can't you make them with simple round buns? I'm not blind to anything else ...

[Irisha]

Irisha, wonderful pretzels !!!
And the presentation is excellent - everything is very clearly described, plus a photo!

Merri, I'm glad you got THESE pretzels.

Irochka what lovely Pretzels. I will definitely not repeat such a feat with soda. I'd rather if everything works out right in their homeland in October and try

[Gasha]

Gasha, Marina (Twist and Sonadora), Galina, Lena, thank you very much for your feedback!

Can't you make them with simple round buns? I'm not blind to anything else ...

Marisha, if I blinded, then you will succeed!

Merri, I'm glad you got THESE pretzels.

Galina, I highly recommend repeating, you will like it!

Irochka what lovely Pretzels. I will definitely not repeat such a feat with soda. I'd rather if everything works out right in their homeland in October and try

Lena, I wouldn’t bake either if I was walking in Germany!

[Gasha]

Gasha, Marina (Twist and Sonadora), Galina, Lena, thank you very much for your feedback!

Lena, I wouldn’t bake either if I was walking in Germany!

Yeah, I'm not walking yet, but only planning, they suddenly won't be allowed. You will also have to try to do it yourself, I want to ..

Yeah, I'm not walking yet, but only planning, they suddenly won't be allowed. You also have to try to do it yourself, I want to ..

Let me in, let me in! Come tell me!

Let me in, let me in! You will come, tell me!

Irisha was allowed in! I tried three types of pretzels with salt, cheese, and nut pretzels, and here is the promised photo-

Lena, thanks for the photo! Nice, my freaks compared to them. There they are smooth, maybe the car rolls them out. Did you like the taste? Crunchy?
Most importantly, have you brought caustic soda for them?

Lena, thanks for the photo! Nice, my freaks compared to them. There they are smooth, maybe the car rolls them out. Did you like the taste? Crunchy?
Most importantly, have you brought caustic soda for them?

I have not seen how they are prepared, I liked the taste of ordinary and nutty ones. She didn't bring soda, left the purchase of various ingredients for later, and Halloween played a joke with us, all stores were closed on the first day - they had a day off, but we didn't know ...

Lena, you haven't brought anything with caustic soda, if you want you can find it at home.

Very cool! I have not tried Pretzel yet! This is a pretzel!
And I was very pleased that I can use sodium hydroxide (E524) in business ... In the sweet business, it was used when dyeing caramel. With a compressed heart, because I was afraid of its harsh manifestations ... it is also used in the production of chocolate and even ice cream. Well, you can practice at home. Yes, you can fight for a crisp! Ira - 🔗

Natasha, thank you for paying attention to my lonely recipe! I don't know for sure Pretzel and Prezel are the same, but I think not. Pretzel is more of a bagel, and Prezel is more of a bun.
Be careful with lye! Bon Appetit!

Irina, where did you buy the caustic?

In Krasnodar.

Sodium hydroxide is registered as a food additive E-524.
In addition, in the food industry, sodium hydroxide is used as acidity regulator, for washing and peeling fruits and vegetables, in the production of chocolate and cocoa, drinks, ice cream, coloring caramel, for softening olives and giving them a black color, in the production of bakery products.
Acidity regulators through changes in pH values ​​can solve the following technological problems:
- to form the specified rheological properties of the product;
- to influence the effectiveness of emulsifiers, stabilizers, thickeners and other food additives;
- to influence the main colloidal properties that determine the formation of consistency.
The change in pH is achieved by the introduction of acids, grounds and salts. With the help of buffering agents, acidity is maintained at a certain level.
Bases (alkalizing substances) are used to reduce the acidity of food systems. Along with this function, they are used to loosen food masses and make dry fizzy drinks.

Galina, thanks for the additional information on sodium hydroxide!

Hamelman "Bread. Technology and recipes" p.305 and even better p.307!

Hamelman "Bread. Technology and recipes" p.305 and even better p.307!

What is there? I don't have such a book.

This is what is written in this book: "In the oven, the alkali evaporates, resulting in a very thin shiny crust of a pleasant brown color."

I read about Bavarian sausages and unexpectedly found a description of pretzel: "Brezel, thin pretzels sprinkled with coarse salt, are the best for Bavarian sausages. The dough for them is not much different in composition from the usual one for buns, but it is kneaded more thoroughly. The dough is rolled out into a relatively thin rope and the pretzels are rolled in. The shape of the pretzel is said to resemble the crossed arms of a monk.
Before putting the prepared pretzels into the oven, they are briefly immersed in a weak alkali solution, so that after baking they acquire their beautiful golden color. Then the pretzels are sprinkled with coarse salt and placed in the oven. "
Eat Bavarian pretzel sausages with a good beer!

I bought a pretzel at IKEE, inside of which there was absolutely no melted butter. For a long time I was looking for a hole through which it could be pumped inside, and I did not find it. Anyway, where does the cavity for him come from? And there was a lot of oil! What versions are there?

I think the butter was rolled into the inside of the pretzel, and then it froze. I've never heard of butter pretzels.

[Merri]

Merri, there is such a story - it does not seem at all that the butter has ever melted. Because we know that melted butter (and we dip the dough in boiling water and bake in the oven) will never become "white and fluffy" again. And here is the virgin oil. You will be at IKEA, try it!
... I forgot that I wanted to make your pretzels today. Spun in the morning ... And there was a thought, including to try the butter, I just saw enough of your recipe, so that you had to "curl" the dough. Eh, now you have to wait for the weekend.

Well, you, Ira, forgetting! I missed them too! But there is no time at all ...

Can you tell us more about sodium hydroxide? Where can I buy? Which one? There are different degrees of purity, what did you use? Unfortunately, many recipes involve using regular soda ... Well, no craving for adventure in people!

[Karasu]

Karasu, friends helped out. I don’t know the details, I received it in a non-native container, I saw on the Internet that it was being sold in large bags.

Hmm, I saw those bags on sale, they weigh 25 kg, somehow I somehow don't want to mess with them at all, which surprisingly I saw and recipes, in particular on YouTube, where it does not say at all what exactly for sodium they use, xs or they have this more common additive, or you can use anything, in the end, according to legend, it was a cleaning agent, not the so-called. "food additive", I'll try clean for analysis ...)

It was also not easy for me to decide. After seeing the pretzels in Germany, I realized that simple baked goods would not work the same color as theirs. I really wanted to try.
I don't need a 25 kg bag either, I asked to fill it.

Thanks to the soapmakers, you can always buy a kilo of chemically pure caustic from them! I'll be alive, unsubscribe)

[Karasu]

Karasu, good luck! The main thing is to observe safety measures!

Water can 185 gr, fix

[Alexei]

Alexei, okay, I'll check.