Giant Bavarian Pretzels

     Today it dawned on me that I have yet to include a German recipe on my allegedly part German blog. This realization provided me an opportunity to reflect on my culinary experiences there. For those of you who don't know, three years ago, I got to stay with a host family in Bavaria for part of the summer. I could easily go on and on forever about the entire experience, but this probably isn't the place for that. One memory that stands out most was actually a very ordinary moment, but it has come to represent everything I loved about that summer. I remember sitting with my host family in their backyard trying to convey to them in broken German, how utterly amazed I was to be looking out at thousand-year-old churches and a castle. During this conversation, all five of us were sharing the most gigantic (and delicious) fresh baked pretzel (Brezel) I had ever seen. We dipped pieces of it in jams and sweet mustard (none of that awful nacho cheese there). It was all just so perfectly European. I was in a foreign country by myself, living with strangers who I only half understood, but in that moment, I felt profound peace, like I was exactly where I was meant to be.

So...yeah, today I made some giant Bavarian soft pretzels.

INGREDIENTS:
1 packet dry yeast
1 cup warm, not hot, water
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg and coarse salt for the top (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, stir warm water into yeast and let sit for a minute. Then add half of the flour and the salt, sugar, and butter. If you have one, use and electric mixer with the dough hook to mix for 3-5 minutes. If not, it's not too hard to do it by hand.
2. Mix in the other half of the flour a little at a time and knead until combined.
3. Form the dough into a ball. Grease a clean large bowl, set the dough in it, cover it with a dish towel, and set it in a very warm place, like on top of the stove as the oven is heating up. Let the dough rise for about an hour, until it doubles in size. While you're waiting, preheat the oven to 425.

Once the dough has risen, it's time to decide what size pretzels you want. I decided to make 2 that each took up about half the size of a cookie sheet. I was of course trying to recreate the family size ones you find in Germany. In retrospect, I probably should have been more adventurous and made just one giant one with all of the dough. If you want normal sized pretzels, divide the dough evenly into 10 roundish pieces.

4. One the dough has risen, decide how many pretzels you want and divide the dough into that many pieces. Then roll each of them out into long ropes. You may want to to flour your hands if the dough is really sticky.

5. Spray cookie sheets with Pam, and twist the dough rope into pretzel shapes on them. You just take the two ends, crisscross them twice, then bring them down the middle and pinch them to the bottom edge of the pretzel.

6. Set the pretzels in a warm place and let them rise for another hour or so until they get twice as big again.
7. (I skipped this step.) If you really want your pretzels to be shiny, beat an egg and brush it over the tops of each one. Then sprinkle salt over them.
Fun fact: They apparently soak real authentic German pretzels in lye to get them shiny. I wasn't quite that adventurous today.
8. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the pretzels.

Enjoy this little cultural experience, and come back tomorrow for the main dish I made with these, Schnitzel!