Yeast Pretzels

Ingredients

• 600 g wheat flour
• 42 g fresh yeast (1 cube)
• 375 ml lukewarm water
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• flour (for rolling and shaping)
• butter (for greasing)
• 1 Egg white
• 3 tbsp baking soda
• coarse salt (for sprinkling)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Add the flour to a mixing bowl, press a well in the center, and crumble the yeast into it. Add sugar and about 125 ml lukewarm water, then stir the yeast with some flour from the rim to form a pre-dough.

2. 2.

   Cover with a cloth and let rest for about 15 minutes.

3. 3.

   Mix the remaining wheat flour with salt, egg, and 250 ml lukewarm water into the pre-dough. Knead vigorously with an electric hand mixer until elastic and slightly detached from the bowl’s edge. Shape the dough into a ball, return to the bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

4. 4.

   Grease a baking sheet with butter. Knead the dough well on a floured surface. From one‑third of the dough form six strands and braid them into two plaits. Cut the remaining dough in half and twist each half into a strand (about 80 cm–1 m), slightly thinner at both ends than the middle. Fold each strand into a pretzel shape, press the ends carefully together. Brush the back of the braid with egg white and place on the pretzel belly.

5. 5.

   Boil 1.5 l water in a wide shallow pot, dissolve the baking soda in it. Preheat oven to 200 °C. Place the giant pretzels on the greased sheet, brush with the baking soda solution, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Put the tray on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20–25 minutes until brown and crisp. Cool on a wire rack.