For the lady who wanted information on making Bavarian pretzels, I can only
say that in the many times I've been to Germany (9 at last count - my
parents were born and raised there and we go back often to visit family), I
have never noticed a difference between Bavarian pretzels and Swabian
pretzels. The lye dip is essential, but perhaps your ratio of lye to water
is not correct, or perhaps you are baking the pretzels at a lower
temperature than necessary.
A very nice gentleman was kind enough to post his blow-by-blow recipe, with
PICTURES, for Swabian pretzels on the Internet. Here is the
site: >http://www.cs.uml.edu/~dm/brezla-2/>. I bake my pretzels on a very
hot baking stone, or I use Silpat liners on my thin aluminum
sheets. Amazingly, despite the caustic nature of the lye, the Silpat is
not affected in the least, and the pretzels slide right off. Do not use
regular baking sheets without some kind of liner (and I'm not sure
parchment paper is enough - I used waxed paper once, and the lye soaked
right through the paper, and I got pretzels with waxed paper stuck on them,
and sheets that have permanent outlines of pretzels!). The website appears
to show parchment paper, in which case I suggest you use a double thickness.
For a firmer crust, I would recommend against using the buttermilk powder
suggested in the recipe on the website. Here is the recipe I use, and my
German relatives think the taste is even better than the pretzels they get
in Germany!
2 cups hot water (110-115 F)
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
5 to 5 1/2 cups bread flour
5 tsp. bread machine yeast
Coarse salt for sprinkling
Put the ingredients in bread pan in order listed. Use dough setting, or if
your machine doesn't have a dough setting, shut off machine at end of last
rise. Punch down dough and shape according to directions on website given
above. Bake at 400-425 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes.
Note: I have a German bread baking book, and it recommends the following:
500 g (about 4 cups) bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 liter (about 1 1/8 cup) milk
30 g (about 2 tbsp.) butter
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
Coarse salt for sprinkling
You may mix the dough in the bread machine, and shape as above. The book
recommends dissolving 1 heaping tablespoon of food-grade lye to one litre
of boiling water, and then dipping each pretzel in the boiling water for
about 30 seconds. Let drain and then place on a greased baking sheet (see
above notes!) and bake at 400-425 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes.
I have not tried this recipe as yet, but I will do so soon, and I'll let
you know how they turned out.
Good luck!