# Pretzels And Beer



## brett mccluskey (9/2/11)

http://www.beerbirrabier.com/2011/02/pretzels-and-dips.html


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## Mercs Own (11/2/11)

I read the blog and feel compelled to post my pretzel recipe that is in my Beer Cook book due out in August this year - I hope you like this recipe enough to buy thwe book but more about that later.

Firstly the boil ratio is 1 teaspoon of bicarb to one cup of water so when you make the recipe below boil 4 cups of water with 4 teaspoons of bi carb and after you have shaped your prtzels put them one at a time into the boiling water for 10 seconds then turn them over and boil for another 10 seconds then take them out.

Anyway read on and it is all clear - just a note to say that the Murdoch Books test kitchen trialed these and loved them! And yes they are perfect with a beer!!!!


Pretzels


2 3 cups of plain flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar raw or white
1 tablespoon of butter- unsalted or salted - softened
cup of milk
cup of water - hot
4 teaspoons of bi carb
4 cups of water
Baking paper
Salt flakes Murray river salt or Maldon Salt flakes

Preheat oven to 230c

Combine the milk and the hot water into a glass jug, the mixture should be warm but not hot. Add the sugar, yeast and the butter to the warm milk /water mixture and give it a stir then set aside. After about 5 10 minutes the yeast should be active and you will see lots of yeasty froth sitting on top of the liquid.

Using a cake mixer with a dough hook put 2 cups of flour into the mixing bowl and turn the mixer on. Give the yeast mixture a stir and then slowly add it to the flour and mix. The flour will come together but will be quite wet still so add some of the extra flour a handful at a time until the dough begins to form a ball. You do not want this dough to be too dry or stiff, it is a very soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and give it a knead for about 5 or so minutes until the dough texture changes to a more silky character. Put the dough into a floured glass bowl I usually spray some oil around the inside of the bowl and then sprinkle flour around it as this stops the dough from sticking to the glass. Cover and set aside for an hour or two or until the dough has at least doubled in size.

Once it has doubled turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and shape it into a log. Cut this log in half and then each half in to three pieces. Roll each piece out to be about 30 cm long how ever there is a trick to this and that is leave a fatter bit in the middle. Imagine a snake has swallowed a football (or an oblong shape) and that shape is sitting in the middle of this 30cm long snake. This fatter section is probably about 6 cm long. As this dough is quite soft you probably wont be able to roll it on the bench so the easiest way to roll it is to pick it up and hold it between your hands palms together thumbs pointing to the roof, and make like you are rubbing your hands together to warm them. Allow the dough to hang down and as you rub your hands together the dough will slowly fall down towards the bench as you stretch it out with the rolling action. This all makes perfect sense when you DO it. Let the dough drop to the bench and then repeat the process starting from the other end of the dough. In order to get the fatter bit in the middle start the rolling motion 4cm past the centre of the dough and when you turn the dough and do the other side start that 4 cm past the middle section and voil you will end up with a 30cm long piece of dough with a fat section in the middle. With practice comes perfection!

To make a pretzel shape have your rolled snake lying on the bench in front of you. Pick up either end and hold it above the bench so it forms a big U shape now cross your hands in a circular motion so that the u swings, turns and twists around itself and then lay it flat on the bench still holding on to the ends. Place one end on top and to the side of the fat middle section and the other end on the other side. Wet your finger (no dont lick it have a bowl with a little water nearby!) and dab where the two ends rest on the fat section to seal them down.

In a fry pan bring the four cups of water and the Bi-Carb to the boil and then dunk a pretzel into the boiling water for about 10 seconds before turning it over and letting it sit for another 10 seconds. Remove from the boiling water and place on an oven tray that has a sheet of baking paper on it. Repeat with the other pretzels. Sprinkle the pretzels generously with the salt and put in to the preheated oven. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until pretzels are a dark golden brown.

Remove and try and wait until they are a little cooler before you devour them. Of course eat with your favourite beer.

Makes six


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## nifty (11/2/11)

Mercs Own said:


> I read the blog and feel compelled to post my pretzel recipe that is in my Beer Cook book due out in August this year - I hope you like this recipe enough to buy thwe book but more about that later.
> 
> Firstly the boil ratio is 1 teaspoon of bicarb to one cup of water so when you make the recipe below boil 4 cups of water with 4 teaspoons of bi carb and after you have shaped your prtzels put them one at a time into the boiling water for 10 seconds then turn them over and boil for another 10 seconds then take them out.
> 
> Anyway read on and it is all clear - just a note to say that the Murdoch Books test kitchen trialed these and loved them! And yes they are perfect with a beer!!!!



Merc, that recipe looks pretty good, I'll be keen to give it a go this weekend. I tried the Beersmith pretzel recipe last weekend and they turned out alright.

cheers

nifty


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## Mercs Own (12/2/11)

Let me know how they turn out Nifty.


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## nifty (12/2/11)

I knocked out a batch of these this afternoon and I must say, they were pretty good. Easy to prepare, easy to make. 

Straight out of the oven, the wife and I finished off the whole batch in one sitting. 

I'm going to have to make some more tomorrow, damn it.

cheers

nifty


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## Mercs Own (13/2/11)

Great stuff Nifty! Did you follow my recipe exactly?? Did it make sense etc As it is in my cook book I am interested if it all went well or if there were any points that you changed?

I agree these are addictive and am not surprised you polished them off straight away!

cheers


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## nifty (13/2/11)

Mercs Own said:


> Great stuff Nifty! Did you follow my recipe exactly?? Did it make sense etc As it is in my cook book I am interested if it all went well or if there were any points that you changed?
> 
> I agree these are addictive and am not surprised you polished them off straight away!
> 
> cheers




Yep, I followed the recipe exactly. I ended up using 3 cups of bread flour to get a good consistency.

I used my Kenwood Chef to knead the dough, it's easier than doing it by hand and it does a good job of it, and the pieces were easy to roll on the benchtop.

I might give them another go this afternoon and make 4 of the normal sized pretzels and 4 half sized pretzels to see how they turn out.

Thanks for the recipe.

cheers

nifty


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## Mercs Own (13/2/11)

Nifty thanks for the feed back!


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## roller997 (14/2/11)

I make pretzels for special occassions, however due to the effort involved I haven't made them all that often recently.

I have tried bi-carb gut I haven't found the result up to par with caustic soda. With that in mind, I have made in excess of 20 batches and with the right precautions, I haven't had any close shaves or issues. Caustic is used quite often for stainless equipment as it also passivates the stainless, so there is a chance that some brewers already have a supply of caustic.

Here we go with my recipe:

*Yeast starter*
teaspoon of sugar for yeast starter
3 teaspoons (21 grams) of fresh dry yeast 
50 ml lukewarm milk for yeast starter

*Dough*
1000 grams plain flour
2 tablespoons salt
500-600 ml milk
100 ml water
(Butter for greasing trays)

*Lauge*
900ml Boiling Water
100ml Cold Water
2 teaspoon food grade Caustic Soda 
*(DANGEROUS ingredient also used to clean drains and brewing equipment! Take EXTREME care when adding to mixture to hot water not to breathe in fumes and wear goggles and gloves to avoid burns)*

*Method*
Mix Yeast Starter, ensuring that the yeast is fully dissolved.
Mix dry ingredients of the dough and form a cavity on top to hold the yeast starter.
Put Yeast Starter mixture in the cavity on top of the flour.
Let stand for 10 minutes This should make the yeast starter increase in size.

Mix salt, water and milk, heat in microwave till luke warm and then add this mixture to flour.
You can either mix the dough manually or you can use a kitchen machine with dough hook such as a Kenwood Chef to mix the dough until it is smooth. 
Add more milk or flour to ensure you have a non sticking firm dough.
NOTE: Dough is quite tough and you need a strong kitchen machine to handles such large quantities. If in doubt, use manual process to make dough!

Cover dough with glad wrap and let it stand for a minimum of 1 hour, preferrably at between 30-50 degrees.

If yeast was started right should now be twice the original size and enough for 16-18 pretzels.

Turn Oven on to highest temperature to give it adequate time to heat up.

Cut dough into 16-18 equal sized balls and roll into long 45+ cm long / thin rope with the center being thicker than the edges.

Form into Pretzels or other shapes as desired. Let stand for a further 10-15 minutes

Grease Trays for Pretzels with butter.

*NOTE: The following is VERY dangerous and IF you have any doubts use 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda instead. Not quite the same result but good enough to start off with. NO RESPONSIBILITY WILL BE TAKEN IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG! Caustic soda burns, stains and is DANGEROUS.*

Boil 1 Liter of water
Prepare Lauge by mixing 2 teaspoon of Caustic Soda into 100ml of cold water Ensure Caustic soda is fully dissolved.
Use high rim dish such as a stainless pot or Pyrex glass and pour boiling water into dish.
Pour 50ml HIGH CONCENTRATION mix into hot water slowly and then stir for 15 seconds.

Dip Pretzels fully for 4-6 seconds into Lauge via spatula which has plenty of holes to let the Lauge rinse off. Place Pretzels onto well buttered / greased tray 
Dispose of Lauge in any drain at home that might require cleaning.

Add corse salt and cut into the top of the thick end of the pretzel.

Insert big tray with base filled with boiling water into Oven to keep the oven humid.

Bake for 12-20 minutes at 220 degrees until brown. IF you want to freeze them for re-heating, only bake for 10 minutes until light brown and freeze immediately after they have cooled down. 

Straight after taking the Brezen out of the oven, brush them with cold water and let them cool on wire tays.

Frozen Pretzels don't even need to be de-frosted. All you do is dunk them in a bit of cold water and put them in a 200 degree oven until they are golden brown.


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## Kleiny (15/2/11)

Just started a batch of Mercs recipe, waiting on the dough to rise.


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## Kleiny (15/2/11)

Here they are

along with my Aus Pale 







Taste great!

Next time longer and thinner rolls and better twists.

Merc the instructions are easy to follow but i was a bit unsure as to why and what would happen when i put the folded dough into the bicarb boiling mix for 10 sec ea side.

Kleiny


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## Supra-Jim (15/2/11)

They look great Klieny. I have Merc's instructions printed ready to give it a bash this weekend. Though I'm tempted to cook mine in the bbq for a touch of smoky goodness on them. My tastebuds remember fresh hot pretzels from NY street vendors being lovely soft/doughy with a slight smokey flavour.

Cheers SJ


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## nifty (15/2/11)

Kleiny said:


> Taste great!
> 
> Next time longer and thinner rolls and better twists.
> 
> ...



Maybe the bicarb gives them a glaze and that unique pretzel flavour? Whatever the reason, it works.

cheers

nifty


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## Mercs Own (1/3/11)

Thanks for the feedback Kleiny. Good point too that you make ie why do you dip them in the bi carb and boiling water.... As I am sure you already know traditionally the pretzels were dipped in a Lye solution or Lauge as Roller calls it which is caustic soda diluted in water, when the pretzels are then cooked in a hot oven some kind of chemical reaction happens which nuetralises any dangers from the caustic and also creates the wonderful colour, texture and taste of the outside of the cooked pretzel. Bi carb mixed in water and then boiled acheives pretty much the same outcome with out any of the dangers of having caustic around the house. Of course the purists will say that it is not as good as using a Lye Bath - the traditional way - however either way the pretzels are damn fine.

I am happy to forgo the use of goggles, gloves and safety barriers around the kitchen and just go with the easy and safer option of the bi carb solution.

each to their own.

Pretzels and beer look great also Kleiny!

Roller why do you make up a 100mil mix and then only use 50 mils of it?


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## roller997 (4/3/11)

Kleiny,
That looks like a much better result than I got when I tried baking soda, so my concentration might not have been high enough which might explain a sub-optimal result. I will try it again with Merc's recommended solution and who knows, I might have to retract my original claim.


Mercs Own,
In terms of the 50ml vs 100ml. My original recipe called for 50ml which makes the concentration a bit high and causes the heat to build up quite a bit, so to make it a bit safer and dissipate the heat generated by the caustic, I switched it to 100ml and forgot to update the second reference to the highly concentrated caustic solution. Sorry.... 100ml is what you would be adding to the hot water. 

I wouldn't really say that only "purists"suggest caustic soda.
Having grown up in the country where these originate I can vouch for the fact that there isn't a baker that uses anything else for their Laugen Brezen. 
I would call it the traditional, standard or common way to make pretzels by professionals. As with many things, for various reasons (some of which are better - Fosters practices come to mind) at home we tend to change, adapt and sometimes we also compromise.

I must admit I haven't worn goggles in the kitchen yet, instead I have been extremely careful not to splash it around.

Have you ever tried caustic soda? If you ever want to try it to get some first hand experience and you need some foodgrade caustic soda, I have a reasonable supply for cleaning my fermenter and for making pretzels. 

Here are some references which touch on the subject.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4616/food...german-pretzels
http://germanfood.about.com/od/bread/r/laugenbrezeln.htm


Cheers

Roller


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## cwbrown07 (7/3/11)

I made some of these on the weekend (Merc's Recipe) with some help from my 2 and a half year old. 
It was really easy to make the dough (and lots of fun for the little one). Trickiest part was rolling the dough into pretzels and then getting them into and out of the boiling bicarb solution without them breaking/ falling apart - I reckon a real big bbq flipper might do the trick next time.

After a quick bake, they were ready to go and didn't last long at all!

Definitely making them again - Thanks Mercs


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## cwbrown07 (7/3/11)

and managed to find a picture of the not too picturesque (but tasty) pretzels...


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## MelissaCole (19/4/11)

Just been shown these by toper1, they look great, I've got a general beer book coming out later in the year and look forward to seeing your beer cook book, sounds fantastic, let me know if you want any of the recipes scattered across my blog, yours for nothing with a credit www.girlsguidetobeer.blogspot.com


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## brett mccluskey (22/4/11)

MelissaCole said:


> Just been shown these by toper1, they look great, I've got a general beer book coming out later in the year and look forward to seeing your beer cook book, sounds fantastic, let me know if you want any of the recipes scattered across my blog, yours for nothing with a credit www.girlsguidetobeer.blogspot.com


Welcome to AHB melissa !! http://girlsguidetobeer.blogspot.com/


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## Mercs Own (24/4/11)

Thanks Toper1! Sent a message off.

Notice you are from Cobram - I was just up there filming - Murray Valley Pork, Monichinos Wines, Salt bush lamb, cactus salsa! Good spot! Needs a Micro brewery!!

edit: oh and Rich Glen Olive Oil fantastic stuff - their chilli infused olive oil is the best I have ever had!


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## petesbrew (27/4/11)

Made your pretzels on the weekend with my daughter, Merc.

Almost burnt out the hand mixer going by the smell of the motor, and had to resort to kit yeast, but they turned out bloody fantastic!
Thanks for posting the recipe. I'll make them again sometime soon.:icon_cheers:


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## nifty (27/4/11)

I've made these quite a few times now, the wife and I love em, but no matter what I do, they always end up looking like dog turds.


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## MelissaCole (27/4/11)

toper1 said:


> Welcome to AHB melissa !! http://girlsguidetobeer.blogspot.com/




cheers! : )


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## drew9242 (1/5/11)

Currently making merc's pretzels, just waiting for the dough to rise. I planning a oktoberfest 25th Bday party this year. So i thought i better practice making some of these for it. Will see how they turn out and maybe put up a pick. Depending on how much of a fail it was.


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## Mercs Own (2/5/11)

It's a fail proof recipe!!! Wheres the pics?


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## drew9242 (2/5/11)

Well it worked out awesome. However next time i might make 2 more and make them a bit smaller. The hardest part is cooking them in the bicarb without everything turning pear shape. Will defiantly be doing them for oktoberfest. Still working out how to downsize pics and will put them up.


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## Sully (8/5/11)

Made these yesterday, fan-bloody-tastic :super: . Took them to the Big Brew Day at Wilnkles and from all reports they were a hit. Here is a pic of first batch out of the oven. Made a triple batch on faith that it was a going to be a top recipe. Easy as too. Not exactly folded as they supposed to be but who cares...


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## Mercs Own (8/5/11)

Drew9242 said:


> Well it worked out awesome. However next time i might make 2 more and make them a bit smaller. The hardest part is cooking them in the bicarb without everything turning pear shape. Will defiantly be doing them for oktoberfest. Still working out how to downsize pics and will put them up.



Keep it quick in the bi carb solution and dont make the pretzels too skinny and large as I did that once and they tended to break up when I dipped them in the bi carb boiling solution especially when turning.

Sully they look good and I am glad to hear you made a triple batch and your faith was rewarded!


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## drew9242 (8/5/11)

Cheers for the tips Merc will try it out next time.

Here a couple of pics of them.


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## Mercs Own (9/5/11)

Drew9242 said:


> Cheers for the tips Merc will try it out next time.
> 
> Here a couple of pics of them.



Looking awesome!


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## Daniel.lear (10/5/11)

Merc,

Made these this afternoon after work, dead easy to make. (albeit mine are a bit ugly, Hmm more practice needed)

Very good with a Bock to wash it down.

Cheers,

Leary


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## Mercs Own (12/6/11)

Leary said:


> Merc,
> 
> Made these this afternoon after work, dead easy to make. (albeit mine are a bit ugly, Hmm more practice needed)
> 
> ...



Fantastic photo Leary - I just want a bock and a pretzel right now!!!


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## pk.sax (16/6/11)

trying to make them right now... dough is rising (went 1.5X in just 15 minutes!!!).

One thing though... I'm using whole wheat flour, its all I had on hand as its all I normally use. The dough seemed a bit too fluid to me. say, wrt pizza dough that I spread in the pan itself by hand, its the same sort of consistency, rather soft. Compared to 'roti' dough, like for indian roti thats got to be rolled thin, its an impossible dough. I am sure I used a full 3 cups of flour because 2 was just goo.

Is this expected or is my use of wholemeal wheat flour setting me up for disaster? either way, it shall be handled


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## pk.sax (16/6/11)

MMMMMMMMM

love em. Have to get white flour sometime too. thankx a bunch merc


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## Mercs Own (17/6/11)

practicalfool said:


> View attachment 46414
> 
> 
> MMMMMMMMM
> ...



They look good! Your post confused me but then I have only just got back from a week away.... The dough is really very soft much softer than my pizza dough.


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## Sully (3/7/11)

Made another batch today of Mercs Pretzels and decided to experiment a bit. Rolled the dough into about a 6mm thick flat round, placed a slice of shaved ham and a sprinkle of grated cheese, rolled it up into a cigar shape and continued as normal - the result was omfg how fruckin good is this. Only made 2 though


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## cwbrown07 (3/7/11)

Pure GENIUS! :wub: 




Sully said:


> Made another batch today of Mercs Pretzels and decided to experiment a bit. Rolled the dough into about a 6mm thick flat round, placed a slice of shaved ham and a sprinkle of grated cheese, rolled it up into a cigar shape and continued as normal - the result was omfg how fruckin good is this. Only made 2 though


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## NickB (17/10/11)

Bumping this thread as I finally (thanks to an RDO) got around to trying the Pretzel recipe. Haven't tasted yet, but so easy to make, and they look and smell great. Also did a (cheaters - packet mix) Sourdough Rye loaf as well, replacing all the water with my stout...!





Cheers


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## Mercs Own (17/10/11)

NickB said:


> Bumping this thread as I finally (thanks to an RDO) got around to trying the Pretzel recipe. Haven't tasted yet, but so easy to make, and they look and smell great. Also did a (cheaters - packet mix) Sourdough Rye loaf as well, replacing all the water with my stout...!
> 
> View attachment 49238
> 
> ...


 Wadya mean ya havent tried them yet?? You waited to take a photo before eating one? I made a double batch yesterday and as I was taking them out of the oven before I could put them on the cooling rack two of daughters took a pretzel each and started to eat!!! They were too hot of course so they put them down for one minute tops then they took off with them and ate them!

Good work though!


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## NickB (17/10/11)

Ha ha, nice. Lucky for me the dogs can't reach the bench! Believe me, between baking and brewing today, I did eat a couple  Shame I burnt the bottom a little - crappy cheap oven in our rental 

Cheers!


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## dug (28/10/11)

made my second batch this morning. They turned out MUCH better than the first one. the mix for the first batch was a little too watery/sticky especially after my little 3 yo helper added more water to the mix as I was shaping them. still tasty though. Got the mix much better this time, also made some snails for the boys 

Sully that is a gold idea stuffing them! next time lamb bacon stuffed pretzels are in order.


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## HeavyNova (19/11/11)

Had a go at these this afternoon! The results were tasty! Washed down with with Dr Smurto's Golden Ale.


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## pk.sax (25/8/13)

Mmmmm. This time, I used a caustic lauge, just dip in the cold caustic and job done, no boiling.


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## findleyc (5/9/13)

Thanks for the awesome recipe! I'm keen to try them with my next home brew - definitely the perfect complement to a tasty beer


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## Mercs Own (5/11/13)

Don't know why but the recipe at the beginning of this thread has been sabotaged?? or the amounts just gone missing


it calls for 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water


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## punkin (5/11/13)

There's a lot of that going on round here lately by all accounts.


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## Mercs Own (10/11/13)

I reckon it looks like a pretzel baking day!!


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## Dunkelbrau (24/11/13)

Mmm I had some awesome pretzels in Germany earlier this year!

Can't wait for the weekend to get baking already!


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## TSMill (19/4/15)

First attempt at pretzels from mercs book, tasted much better then they looked.....buggered if I could work out how to twist them.


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## TSMill (19/4/15)

And now the Simpsons is about Marge starting a pretzel business so watch that and I should be sweet!


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## Mercs Own (23/4/15)

TSMill said:


> First attempt at pretzels from mercs book, tasted much better then they looked.....buggered if I could work out how to twist them.


You mean to say you didn't follow my long winded convoluted description on how to swirl twirl and twist!!!!!? Took me a long time to write that in a way that it may make sense!?


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## roastinrich (21/9/15)

Does anyone have any or an idea where I can get some sodium hydroxide for pretzels? Ive tried bicarb but didn't quite get the colour + I've read I can use it for making Belgian candy as well. Northwest Sydney.

cheers
Roastin


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## Mardoo (21/9/15)

You can get cooking lye at bigger Chinese food stores.


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## ramu_gupta (23/9/15)

roastin said:


> Does anyone have any or an idea where I can get some sodium hydroxide for pretzels? Ive tried bicarb but didn't quite get the colour + I've read I can use it for making Belgian candy as well. Northwest Sydney.
> 
> cheers
> Roastin


Roastin

I used the bicarb but grabbed a handful of carared, ground and sifted it and added to the mix (was about 1 tbsp)
Brushed with some whisked egg white then sprinkle on the salt and cook.

Gave me some great colour and sheen.

I also don't bother forming pretzels - just roll into sausages, cut into 3 or 4 cm lengths - and cook them. 
Pretzel bites!


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## roastinrich (24/9/15)

Mardoo said:


> You can get cooking lye at bigger Chinese food stores.


 Got some cooking lye yesterday, does anyone know what the dilution should be. Ive read 1-2 tbsp per litre but that was for NaOh.


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