Flashback to the 80’s, when you’d spend all day at the mall shopping, playing pinball, throwing pennies in the fountain, and devouring a big, chewy German style pretzel. Ahhhhh! The enticing aroma of Orange Julius, pizza, fries, and pretzels. And don’t forget about the photo booth craziness! This recipe will take you back. Make the dough the day before, let it rise overnight in the refrigerator, and bake the next day. These are a special treat!
A combination of bread flour and all purpose flour will make these pretzels dense and chewy. They’re quick boiled in a soda bath, brushed with egg wash, and sprinkled with pretzel salt. Flavor, flavor, flavor! Have your mustard or homemade cheese sauce ready, but I have to say, I love mine just plain the best, no dipping sauce required.
Dissolving a little molasses and sugar in warm water will help the yeast to bloom. A touch of molasses will give another flavor note to the pretzels. These pretzels are made with a little beer. If you want to omit the beer, just replace it with the same amount of water, but the beer does add another flavor that I think the pretzels need.
Now for the fun part…shaping the pretzels! Tip: If your dough is fighting you, if it’s not wanting to stretch into a rope, just let it sit at room temp for about 5 minutes and try again. Don’t stress if the pretzels don’t look perfect. Rustic pretzels taste just as good as perfectly shaped ones.
On this tray of pretzels, I tried out a double twist. A single twist is the traditional way of shaping pretzels, but the double twist seemed like a good idea, especially since my kitchen was warm, and the dough seemed extra elastic this time.
This is a picture after the risen pretzels have been boiled in the soda solution, topped with egg wash, and sprinkled with coarse pretzel salt. They’re ready to bake! They bake at a high temperature for a short time, just make sure you bake them long enough to reach a deep toasty brown color.
And that’s it! Your dense and chewy Mall Style Pretzels are ready to devour.
It’s worth it to use coarse pretzel salt. I’m so happy to have found it online. I’ll post a link below for Hoosier Hill Farm Coarse Pretzel Salt. It’s the best that I’ve ever used, tastes so good, and really makes your pretzels scream “authentic”!! Your friends and family will be thrilled to bite into one of these.
Let me know if you make a batch, and how they turn out. All this blogging about pretzels right now is making me want one! I’m off to the kitchen….
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Mall Style Pretzels
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 T. molasses
- 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup beer
- 3 T. unsalted butter, melted
- about 5 cups bread flour (around 22 ounces)
- 2 1/2 tsp. salt
Baked baking soda for pretzel bath:
- 1/4 heaping cup baking soda
Topping:
- 1 whole egg
- 1 T. milk (or low fat milk or water)
- 1/4 cup pretzel salt (more or less, as desired)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, add molasses, sugar, warm water, and yeast. Stir briskly with fork until combined. Let stand for about 6 minutes or until the yeast mixture has bloomed. It will look foamy/frothy.
- Add beer, melted butter, bread flour, and salt. Knead with dough hook attachment for about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer to an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap, and chill overnight, or at least 8 hours. Overnight is best! Dough will rise slightly.
- In the meantime, bake the baking soda for the pretzel bath. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Sprinkle a heaping 1/4 cup of baking soda in a glass pie plate or baking dish. Bake at 300 degrees for about an hour. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
- After dough chills 8 hours or overnight, Prepare your pretzel making area. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a dinner roll shape. Pinch to seal. Roll into a 12 inch rope. Set aside and cover while rolling remaining pieces. Next, roll each 12 inch rope into 24 inch ropes. If the dough fights back, just let it rest a few minutes and try again. Shape each rope into a classic pretzel shape. (See video for Mall Style Pretzels, coming soon!) Cover loosely and allow to rise in a draft free area for about 30 minutes.
- In a small bowl, make an egg wash by beating 1 whole egg and 1 T. milk. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large pot, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Add the baked baking soda and stir.
- Drop pretzels one at a time in boiling soda water. Boil 15 seconds, flip pretzel, boil 15 seconds more. Do not boil longer than 30 seconds total for each pretzel!! Remove and place on prepared baking sheets. Place 4 pretzels on each baking sheet. Brush pretzels with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse pretzel salt. Bake immediately.
- Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for around 9 to 12 minutes or until very dark golden brown. You may need to rotate baking sheets, and you may need to raise one of your oven racks close to the top of your oven for browning. Keep close check on browning. Baking time will vary depending on your oven. I used the convection setting on my oven and they were fully baked in 10 minutes.
- Enjoy plain, with mustard, or cheese sauce if you're feeling retro!