Mall Pretzels 8.04 Fall

“I waited for him to yell at me, to punish me, to ground me forever, to tell me how disappointed he was in me.” “And nothing came.” “And finally, I got up enough courage…to look up at him, and he was standing there...with a pretzel, a giant pretzel covered with mustard.”

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cups lukewarm water

• 1 packet of instant yeast 

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tbsp salt

• 4 cups of flour

• 1  tbsp olive oil

• 8 cups water

• ½ cup baking soda

• Coarse salt

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, add the yeast to the water and stir to combine. Set aside and allow the yeast about five minutes to activate.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine.

3. Slowly add in the yeast a little at a time, mixing in between, using a dough hook or by hand if you don’t have a hook.

4. Add the oil and mix until a smooth ball of dough forms.

5. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for about 1 ½ hours. The dough should double in size.

6. Cut the dough into sections that are about 75 g each. Then roll the dough out to about 22 inches long like a rope.

7. Form the dough ropes into a pretzel shape. 

8. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

9. Add the 8 cups of water and baking soda to a large stock pot and bring to a boil over high heat. 

10. Working in batches, place the raw pretzels a few at a time in the boiling water. Make sure they become fully submerged and let sit in the baking soda bath for 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pretzels and place on a lined baking sheet. 

11. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt then bake at 450 F for 10-12 minutes. 

I know, I’ve made pretzels for this project before. I did Rory’s pretzels of the world and of course, the iconic pretzel picnic basket. However, I have never made regular, yeasted pretzels before for this project, and it was nice to do something pretzel-related on a simpler scale! 

When I think about food from a year in the life, this scene is always the first to come to mind. So I would be remiss if I didn’t make mall pretzels to honor the late Richard Gilmore/ Ed Herrmann. And, I know, Lorelai’s pretzel was covered in mustard, but I don’t like mustard personally! I don’t mind a whole grain mustard in small doses, but I couldn’t do a pretzel that was covered in mustard, sorry!

Happy cooking from the Hollow!

Catch up on my last A Year in the Life Dish here!