Successful Sunday baking experiments

The other week week I was reading a new addition to my RSS feeds, The Giant Blog of Cooking, Crafting and Other Fun Activities, I came across her recipe for giant pretzels. This was something I'd not tried before so I made a plan to attempt these the following Sunday.

A walk down to the local supermarket for some yeast was the first step and then I got into baking!

Bubbling, growing yeast

Ingredients
(reproduced from GBCCOFA)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or 1 packet
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. warm water, about 110 degrees F
3 c. flour
1 c. bread flour
2 c. warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
3 Tbsp melted butter
Coarse Kosher Salt

Notes
I used 3 cups of plain flour instead of part bread flour. My warm water was around 50°C. Finally, I just used regular salt from my grinder in place of the Kosher salt. Oh, and I used Lowan Instant Dried Yeast.

Method
Combine water, sugar, yeast and salt and leave for about 10 minutes till it's bubbling.
Add flour and mix with a dough hook till it reaches an elastic consistency.
Cover mix in oil and leave to rise for about an hour.

Rising dough

Combine warm water and baking soda (or bi-carb) in a dish and set up your pretzel production line!
Separate dough into 12 parts and roll till almost 3 feet (a bit under a metre long).

The pretzel production line

Shape the pretzels then dip in the baking-soda-water mix and lay on a tray.
Bake at 230°C until crispy and brown.

Ready to come out of the oven

Add whatever topping you like. The blog suggested butter and salt so that's what I used. Plus I love my butter! One suggestion from a friend who tried them was sugar and cinnamon with butter or syrup to make it stick.

Giant pretzels