Thought I'd try something a little different with a batch of sourdough pretzel dough, so I made hard pretzels last week.
I used the same dough recipe as for my soft pretzels.
But then I cut the dough into much smaller pieces and rolled it into (mostly) thin ropes. Hannah helped me twist them into different shapes, like rings and braids and pretzel-shapes. We made them lots of different thicknesses and lengths, to see which came out best. I made a few that weren't rope-shaped too -- some shaped like Pringles, for instance.
I boiled them a few at a time for 30 seconds in the baking-soda bath (1/2 cup baking soda for every quart of water) and placed them on nonstick-sprayed parchment on a baking sheet.
Online advice conflicted, so I brushed some with olive oil and others with an egg yolk-water wash and then sprinkled them with kosher salt.
These called for a lower, longer bake time: 350 degrees F for 60 minutes.
Kinda funny looking, aren't they? Well, this picture was taken several days after I made the pretzels. Meaning that the best ones have already been eaten and only the runts are left.
Verdict:
* Thinner pretzels are generally crunchier than thick ones, which remained a little chewy. But a few that were too thin burned, or were too hard to bite. A variety of thicknesses is nice to have. Long twisty ones look the prettiest, and would be impressive served in a vase-like arrangement at a party. Ring-shaped ones fit best in the boiling pot. The Pringle shape turned out very nice, but didn't look like a pretzel.
* They were best 24 hours after they were made.
* Both the olive oil and the egg yolk washes made the salt stick nicely to the pretzel. Some people like the egg yolk wash better, some people like the olive oil wash better. Note that if you use olive oil, the pretzels will be vegan.
* Very nice with mustard and a cold beer.
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