Pretzels

Best flavoured with sea-salt, sesame seeds or poppy seeds.

1. 1

   1. Dissolve the yeast in 120ml of the warm water. Mix together and leave for 5 minutes. Put 110g of the flour, the salt and the yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl. Using a dough hook, knead the ingredients to form a paste. Cover and leave for 20 minutes until the mixture is frothy and has risen.
   
   2. Mix the remaining flour and gradually add the remaining warm water to form a stuff, sticky dough. Knead for 5 minutes with a dough hook or 10 minutes by hand, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
   
   3. Grease the bowl with oil. Put the dough in the bowl and turn it so that it is coated in oil. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7.
   
   4. Knock back the dough and divide it into 15 pieces, each approx 50g. Shape each piece into a round roll and then into an oval. Roll each oval backwards and forwards, moving your fingers along the dough the form a strip about 40com long and 2.5cm thick in the middle and 5mm thick at each end. For the shaped dough into pretzels.
   
   5. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Place the pretzels on the baking sheet and leave to rise again (prove) for 45minutes or until they have doubled in size if you want them to be light and chewy. Lightly whisk the egg yolk with 1tsp water, brush the pretzels with the mixture and spronkle them with sea-salt, poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.