Bavarian Soft Pretzels (Poolish Method)

Deep-brown, glossy soft pretzels made with a preferment for better flavor and chew. Finished with a baked–baking-soda dip for a true pretzel crust without lye.

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Make the Poolish (Day Before or Same Day)

Whisk together:

• ½ cup + 1 Tbsp high-protein all-purpose flour (or bread flour)

• ¼ tsp instant yeast

Mix in:

• ⅓ cup room-temperature water

Cover tightly and let sit at warm room temperature until bubbly and expanded by about half, 3–4 hours. Refrigerate 8–24 hours.

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Make the Dough

Stir into poolish:

• ⅓ cup + 2 tsp warm water (about 90°F)

• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Whisk together:

• 1¾ cups high-protein all-purpose flour (or bread flour)

• 1 heaping tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use ½ tsp if table salt)

Mix & rest:
Add flour mixture to poolish. Knead by hand just until shaggy. Cover and rest 30 minutes.

Brief knead:
With slightly damp hands, knead 15–30 seconds until uniform. Cover and let rise until puffy and expanded by about half, 60–90 minutes.

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Shape the Pretzels

Prep pan:
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat; lightly spray.

Divide & pre-shape:
Divide dough into 6 pieces (about 3 oz each). Roll each into a short log, sealing the seam but leaving ends open. Cover and rest.

Roll ropes:
On an unfloured counter, roll each log into a 24-inch rope, tapering the last 6 inches at each end. Let rest briefly if dough springs back.

Form pretzels:
Shape into a U, cross ends twice, fold back over the curve, adjust to form three even openings, and seal tips. Transfer to pan.

Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

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Baked Baking Soda Dip & Bake

Bake the baking soda (do ahead):

• Spread ½ cup baking soda on a parchment-lined baking sheet

• Bake at 300–350°F for 1 hour

• Cool completely and store airtight

Heat oven:
400°F.

Prepare dip:

• 8 cups water

• ¼ cup baked baking soda

Bring water to a gentle boil, add baked baking soda, and reduce to a simmer.

Dip:
Submerge each pretzel bottom-side up 30–40 seconds. Drain well and return to baking sheet face up.

Top & bake:
Sprinkle with pretzel salt. Bake 12–14 minutes until deep brown.

Finish:
Mist lightly with water and return to oven 30 seconds for shine. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

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Notes

• High-protein flour matters. King Arthur AP works; standard grocery AP usually doesn’t.

• Baking the baking soda increases alkalinity and is critical for proper color and flavor.

• Pretzel salt is ideal, but coarse kosher salt works.

Philadelphia Soft Pretzels

INGREDIENTS (yields 8 pretzels)

• ¾ cup Milk
• ¼ cup Water
• 1½ T Sugar
• 1 pkg active dry Yeast
• 2½ cups King Arthur (unbleached) Bread Flour or Wheat flour
• 2 T Butter (softened)
• 1¼ tsp Salt

ALKALINE BATH SOLUTION

• 3 cups warm to slightly hot Water
• ½ cup Baking Soda

DIRECTIONS (preheat oven to 450°F)

1. In a small saucepan heat and stir milk, 1/4 cup water and sugar over low heat until warm (110°F to 115°F). Pour into large bowl of an electric mixer that has a dough hook. Sprinkle with yeast then let stand about 5 minutes or until foamy.

Add flour, butter and salt. Using an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, beat at low-speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until adequately combined scraping sides of bowl occasionally.

Beat on medium-low speed for 8 to 10 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Dough should pull away from sides of bowl but still be slightly sticky. If too sticky beat in some additional flour.

2. Turn out dough onto a clean, dry work surface. Knead a few times by folding and pressing dough, turning dough to knead uniformly then shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour until approximately doubled in size.

3. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

4. Punch down dough then turn out onto clean, dry work surface. Divide dough into eight equal portions. Roll and stretch each portion into a 30-inch-long rope. If dough resists stretching cover and let rest another 10 minutes or until fully relaxed.

5. Shape each pretzel into a U-shaped rope. Cross the ends over in an X then give it an additional twist. Finally, flip the ends over across down to the bottom of the U forming a classic pretzel shape. Press ends down to seal.

6. Prepare alkaline bath by dissolving ½ cup Baking Soda into 3 cups of water. Pour into baking dish or pan. Soak each Pretzel in the alkaline solution for two minutes then remove using a slotted spoon or spatula. Place each pretzel onto a paper towel to absorb any excess liquid. Arrange Pretzels 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.

7. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until just golden brown. Let cool to room temperature then serve while still warm. 

Serve with Beer Cheese Recipe | Serious Eats

Pretzel Bites: 

Roll the eight pieces of dough into 10" ropes. Cut each rope crosswise into 6 to 10 equal pieces. Dip the pieces into the baking soda solution, place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and top with pretzel salt or sea salt. Bake in a 400°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and roll the bites in melted butter; about 6 tablespoons should do it.

Beer Bread - St. Louis Style

3 Cups Self Rising Flour
3 Heaping Tablespoons Sugar
1 12 Oz Beer at Room Temperature (Budweiser, of course)

Well grease pan and flour.  Rise in warm place 1 hour.  Bake at 325 1 hour or longer.

Mark and Jeanette Discussing the Merits of Budweiser, July 2015

The original St. Louis Recipe

Double Corn Cornbread

This looked soooo good!

A cast-iron skillet (or any ovensafe pan) is our first choice for this recipe, but a 9-inch cake pan will also work. Instead of heating it on the stovetop, place the cake pan with the oil in the preheated oven for 5 minutes before adding the batter.Serves 8 to 10

1 cup cornmeal (yellow or white)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup frozen corn , thawed
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
2 teaspoons Vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Pulse corn, sour cream, eggs, and hot sauce in food processor until corn is coarsely chopped and mixture is combined. Fold corn mixture into cornmeal mixture, then stir in melted butter.
2. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just beginning to smoke. Take skillet off heat; quickly add batter and place skillet in oven. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cornbread in skillet on wire rack for 20 minutes (handle will be hot). Serve warm.

Best Banana Bread, ever!

We've been making this banana bread for several years and LOVE it! The original recipe was from a book of recipes that were contributed by all the people that worked for Norwest Investments & Trust back in 1996. I doctored it up and made a couple of changes to make it our own and it is delicious and moist.


Banana Bread

1 cup milk
2 tbsp vinegar (white is preferable, but otherwise cider is ok)
1 cup oil
2 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (or approximately 2 brown bananas)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or if you are using the black coated pans, preheat to 325-335 degrees).
Add 2 tbsp vinegar to milk and set aside. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the baking soda, together in a mixer. Add the baking soda to the milk mixture and stir well. Let rest for a minute or two. Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture with your mixer on low.
Divide the batter between two loaf pans that have been sprayed with the non-stick baking spray. (I love the size of the IKEA loaf pans, long and narrow).
Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan and continue cooling on a wire rack, or just dig right in a start eating!

hint: what to do with the last brown (or sometime black) banana that is left from the bunch? peel it and put it in a ziploc sandwich bag in the freezer. I'll usually free 2 or 3 bananas together, depending on their size, adding bananas to the bag as they turn brown. Then, when I want to bake banana bread, I've got mashed bananas all ready to go in the freezer. You can thaw them in the microwave or just let them sit on the counter for an hour.

Banana Nut Waffles (sans nuts)

Shortly after Dan and I were married, we were shopping at the Mall of America. We stopped in to Williams-Sonoma to check out the clearance section (they have a great clearance section!). This particular visit, we found a Cuisinart Belgian Waffle Maker for $20, SCORE!
Ever since then, we've made homemade waffles on a regular basis ever since.
Louie loves "awfuls!"

Sunday morning, when we got back from church, I whipped up some waffles and used my rotten bananas that I was saving for banana bread. They were delicious!

I had a recipe for Banana Nut Waffles, but didn't have all the ingredients, so I just made up my own recipe with that other one as a guide.

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk together:
2 eggs
6 tbsp vegetable oil
Stir into dry ingredients and then add
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana

Let batter rest for 5 minutes before using. Preheat waffle iron. When the iron is ready, add batter and spread with a spatula to 1/4 inch of the edge. Close lid, when the green light turns on

Voila, you've got some delicious waffles to serve with maple syrup!

Louie can eat two of these, they're so good!

The recipe will make about 12 waffles. Any extras can be cooled on a cooling rack and then frozen in a zipper freezer bag for a quick breakfast. We've never bought Eggo's yet!

Caramel French Toast

My friend, Carol, made this for the kids when we went to her house for brunch and cookie decorating in December. It is delicious and our kids LOVE it!





















Make one day ahead:
6 eggs
2c. milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 loaf french bread, sliced 1 inch thick or Texas Toast (but you can only get 6 slices in the pan....)
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter, sugar, corn syrup and cinnamon until it is a syrup; pour into bottom of the 9x13 pan. Arrange bread slices on top of syrup. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour over the bread; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar over top. Cover pan and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
Serve each slice by turning upside down on plate, carmel side up. Delish!