Pretzel-making
One of my new year’s resolutions is to try a new bread recipe every Monday. I’ve been making our regular bread with our home-ground wheat for the past year, so I’m definitely ready to branch out!
On January 4th I tried the pretzel recipe in “Wildflour” by Denise M. Fidler. We use this book for many of our ground-wheat recipes. (The bread we make regularly was adapted by Momma from this book.)
Due to the hard work and copyright of the author, I won’t be posting the recipe, but I highly recommend “Wildflour” to anyone interested in grinding their own wheat.
Now for the pretzels. . .
The most delightful part was rolling out the chunks of dough into long floppy snakes and twisting them into the familiar and beloved pretzel figure.
How to twist a pretzel:
1. Using your hands, roll out the dough into a snake, about 2 feet long. (If the surface of the dough has dried a little, you can lightly rub it down with a bagel wash [1 c. warm water + 1/4 c. baking soda] while you roll it out.)
2. Take the two ends and switch them twice.
3. Then press them onto the opposite side of the pretzel.
4. Dip them in the water/baking soda mixture. Place them on the pan and sprinkle them with sea salt. (Table salt works fine. That’s what I used.)
These homemade pretzels were very tasty, especially with strawberry cream cheese. I’d also like to try making homemade strawberry cream cheese from strained low-fat yogurt and homemade strawberry jam. We’ll see how that goes. :)
Kimberly on 21 January, 2010, said,
Had to smile at your end comment as I am straining yogurt myself for “cream cheese”. I was planning on adding herbs to it, but I have tons of jams, too. Maybe I’ll make two dishes, one sweet and one savory. I was thinking it might be a bagel-making day.
Allison Ruth on 21 January, 2010, said,
Yummy! Those look delicious! I love homemade pretzels! Never made any though. I think I’ll get that book!
God~Bless
Hannah Braboy on 21 January, 2010, said,
Oh yum! I made some pretzels a couple of years ago and they were quite tasty! I don’t recall making very many, but I know that my family and I ate them up in about a day. I’ll have to make them again sometime soon. Thanks for inspiring me!
Eyebright on 21 January, 2010, said,
Again, I’ll definitely have to try some homemade pretzels one of these days. I love giant soft pretzels, but I haven’t had one in forever!
Joanna on 21 January, 2010, said,
Those look scrumptious! I’m going to look into that book…we grind our own wheat as well, so it would be interesting to see the other things people make with it.
My mom made cream cheese by accident the other week. :-)
~Joanna
Elizabeth on 21 January, 2010, said,
Breezy, those look delicious! Homemade pretzels are so yummy! We recently have begun making homemade bread with our ground wheat flour, so we will have to try making pretzels! Yum!
Thanks for sharing!
May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Elizabeth
Cate on 21 January, 2010, said,
Your website is a delightful, lovely and wholesome little nook on the web, and your artistry is simply brilliant! I would love to try making these pretzels, as they look delicious! However, I looked on the Barnes & Noble website to find the “Wildflour” recipe book by Denise M. Fidler, and was unable to locate it. Do you know where I may purchase this book?
Thank you again for sharing all of this loveliness with your very appreciative readers!
May God bless you and keep you in His precious care, now and always!
~Cate
Sara on 21 January, 2010, said,
Oh, that looks lovely!
Breezy on 22 January, 2010, said,
Cate,
I looked “Wildflour” up on Amazon.com and it looks like it is currently unavailable.
Here is Denise M. Fidler’s website: http://www.countrybaker.com/
And here is the link to her book:
http://www.countrybaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=3932
Hope this helps!
Blessings,
-Breezy
Cate on 22 January, 2010, said,
Thank you so much for the links–I really appreciate it! I’m really excited about adding this recipe book to my growing collection!
Have a wonderful day–God bless you!
~Cate
Kara on 22 January, 2010, said,
I’ve made pretzels before, but never whole wheat… those look delicious!
~Kara
Kyleigh on 23 January, 2010, said,
Those look delicious, Breezy!
(Now I want to go make a batch of soft pretzels. I love those things so much!)
Jessica on 23 January, 2010, said,
Those are so pretty, Breezy! We have that book, “Wildflour” and like it a lot, too :-)
Hugs!
Jessica
P.S. Anna, Bekah, and Charissa each got a set of your paper dolls for Christmas and they LOVE them!!! I love them too :-D
Allison on 23 January, 2010, said,
Wow those look really good! I love pretzels. I’ve always wanted to make my own but never have gotten around to it. You’ve inspired me so I’ll have to go look up a recipe. :)
My family has a grain mill & we grind our own flour too! Unfortunately we don’t use the flour as much as we should. I’d like to start learning to make lots of different breads so my mom doesn’t have to buy bread at the store anymore.
Thanks for the post, you’ve definitely inspired me to get to work with the flour! :)
Have a Blessed day! Allison <
Esther on 24 January, 2010, said,
Those look really good. I should attempt to make them soon. :)
Prayers,
Esther
Heather on 26 January, 2010, said,
your photos of food and perfect detail are just irresistible! it is wonderful to visit your blog after such a long time! love, heather
Trinity Mommy on 28 January, 2010, said,
Looks so yummy!!
Hannah on 20 February, 2010, said,
Mmm…looks good.
Hehehe…looking at the last picture, I realize that we have that same pan. ;)
Love & Blessings,
–Hannah
Kimmie on 9 May, 2010, said,
Okay, your sister and I are going to keep my children well fed…yesterday I made her pie dough heart pasteries and now I am thinking we need to try your pretzels.
Laughing at how God works. My new daughter Simenesh has found a new love in cooking. It is a way we can communicate well, without a common language. We made rolls for dinner yesterday and she ate 3…rolls and bread (beside injera…which is flat, sour and rather spongey) is a new taste for her.
God is amazingly good.
Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted