Any one out there ever make soft pretzels? I have made in the past with King Arthur's all purpose flour and they were good. However, I recently purchased some high gluten flour, for pizza making, and was wondering if that would be any better and/or if anyone had any experience with it? I checked the King Arthur site and they said Pastry Flour or All Purpose but always looking to try something different. Also I am completely confused as to what types of flour are high gluten, as high gluten is supposedly best for pizza. I have been using Antimo Caputo 00 for the pizza, but not sure if high gluten or not. Thanks
Pastry flour is low gluten, so I'm thinkin' bread flour, or any higher gluten flour might not be a good idea. I have made the KA soft pretzels, but not in several years. I always had trouble getting the baking soda to dissolve. Also, I didn't do the pretzel shape, I just made logs - much easier.
Gluten amounts correspond roughly to protein content, which ranges from about 8% for pastry flour (low protein/gluten) to about 15% for high gluten/protein flour. Most bread flours fall around 13% protein, + or -. AP flour is around 10%. I think the two Caputo 00 flours (blue bag and red bag) are 12% and 13% protein--not sure which is which.
I’m shocked any recipe would specify pastry flour. Most I’ve seen are AP or bread flour. You want a good chew with pretzel and can’t imagine you’d get that with pastry flour.
I’m doing Bavarian style pretzels for Super Bowl and am leaning towards using a recipe from "Pretzel Making at Home" by Andrea Slonecker. I have made pretzels before but didn’t note what recipe I used (in my younger, naive days) so I’m flying a little blind here. in reading Amanda’s recipe it seemed along the lines of what I was thinking and expecting from a recipe. Will post results but obviously it will be a few days from now.
I make a lot of pretzel rolls, and some pretzel rods and bites. I'll usually substitute a tablespoon of malt powder for one tablespoon of brown sugar to give them more of a Bavarian flavor. Last time I tried using food-grade lye instead of baking soda. They browned better and had a better crust right out of the oven, but the ones I stored in a vacuum container overnight shriveled up even without the salt on them. Whatever recipe I've tried, the bottoms seem to burn easily, so when you check for doneness, be sure to check the bottoms.
Next time I make shaped pretzels I'm going to try shaping them, then freezing them for a couple of hours. This should help them keep their shape and not come apart in the bath.
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