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Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots #BreadBakers

These soft sourdough pretzel knots are simple to make, requiring only one rise before shaping. They are wonderful warm or toasted for snacking. Split in two, they are great for small sandwiches.

Food Lust People Love: These soft sourdough pretzel knots are simple to make, requiring only one rise before shaping. They are wonderful warm or toasted for snacking. Split in two, they are great for small sandwiches.

Most traditional pretzel recipes, like those for good chewy bagels, call for a quick dip in boiling water before baking. Sometimes I’m up for it but often I’m not so I was glad to find a recipe on kingarthurbaking.com that skipped that step. The pretzels still turned out lovely, soft and a little chewy. 

We’ve been enjoying them with all sorts of fillings and toppings. Definitely a keeper recipe!

Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on the King Arthur Baking website. The final wash calls for non-diastatic malt powder or granulated sugar but I figured, if the point was color, dark brown sugar would help. It did! I also substituted powdered coconut milk to great effect, making this a vegan recipe. 

Ingredients
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup or 227g sourdough starter, unfed/discard
3 cups or 381g unbleached bread flour
1/4 cup or 28g powdered coconut milk (or dry milk powder)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

For baking:
1 tablespoon, firmly packed, dark brown sugar 
1 tablespoon water
flakey salt

Method
Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper. Grease the parchment with vegetable oil spray to make double-sure the pretzels won't stick.

Measure the dry active yeast into a small bowl and stir in the two tablespoons of warm water along with the sugar. Set aside to prove. The yeast should activate and become foamy. 


Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix and knead the dough ingredients, including the bowl with the activated yeast — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon of water.


Cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling film and let it rest for 45 minutes. My kitchen is pretty chilly right now so I put my dough bowl in a larger bowl of warm water. That works a treat to help the dough rise properly. 


Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface then divide it into 12 equal balls, each weighing about 2 1/2 oz or 71g. (My whole dough ball weighed 848g so that weight for each ball was spot on.)

Roll each piece of dough into an 12 in or 31cm rope. 


Shape each rope into a knot. I found this very tricky but the key seemed to be making sure the piece of dough was at least 12 inches long. Any shorter and forming the knot is a struggle. Video instructions here, also from King Arthur Baking.


Dissolve the brown sugar in the water. Brush the pretzel knots with the solution, and immediately sprinkle them lightly with flakey salt.


Bake the pretzel knots for 20-25 minutes, until they're a lovely golden brown. I turn my pan halfway through to make sure they brown evenly since my oven seems to have hot spots. 


Remove the pretzel knots from the oven. Serve warm or leave to cool on a wire rack. 


Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: These soft sourdough pretzel knots are simple to make, requiring only one rise before shaping. They are wonderful warm or toasted for snacking. Split in two, they are great for small sandwiches.

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for me and my fellow Bread Bakers to share recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Renu from Cook with Renu who chose our theme Anything Pretzel. 


#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.


Pin these Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots!

Food Lust People Love: These soft sourdough pretzel knots are simple to make, requiring only one rise before shaping. They are wonderful warm or toasted for snacking. Split in two, they are great for small sandwiches.

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