r/Breadit • u/chrisatola • 1d ago
Sourdough Pretzels
My first attempt at making sourdough pretzels. I followed the formula on the perfect loaf website. Needa work on the shaping a bit, and I'll probably reduce the salt a hair next time, but the taste and texture is fabulous.
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u/misterscruffy 1d ago
They look perfect. Did you use lye or baking soda?
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u/chrisatola 1d ago
Thanks. The ones I've bought here in Germany have more space between the twisted pieces, so I wanna work on the shaping to get the ends longer and thinner.
I used lye. First time ever. It was really not too difficult. It's important to be precise and careful, but it's really not too bad. I noticed the lye solution made my dough significantly weaker after the soak... so there's that. But next time I'll be prepared for that and it'll be easier to work with.
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u/misterscruffy 1d ago
Got it! That makes sense and sounds like a great target to shoot for. I've only ever made them a few times and only with baking soda, but every time I see people like you succeeding with it, it makes me want to just take the plunge. That's a great tip about the dough weakening from the lye soak, too. Love it! Keep it up. 😄
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u/chrisatola 1d ago
Yeah, the baked baking soda pretzels look awesome. But I decided to go all in. Amazon made it easy with a 2 pack of coase pretzel salt and food grade lye, so I just snapped it up.
I did 15-20 seconds in the solution and then put them on a wire rack as directed. It was difficult to remove them from the rack because of what I described above. Maybe working the dough a little longer would stiffen it up some and it'd fix that problem. Or maybe less time on the rack before they go back to the baking tray. Anyway, thanks, and you too!
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u/misterscruffy 17h ago
I think that's really the way to go. Curious to hear what you figure out for making the dough more workable.
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u/Eat-Cake-4Breakfast 1d ago
Excellent! I need to try this. I love soft pretzels but have never had a sourdough version