Spent Grain Pretzels
This recipe is easy to follow (especially if you’ve made bread before), and it goes fantastic with a crisp lager or Oktoberfest beer, and the addition of spent grains adds a sweet, malty, and nutty quality that complements the beer so well. We chose to add a little spice to our pretzels by wrapping them around a spicy jalapeno sausage, and I would highly recommend you do the same, but it’s hard to beat a pretzel and stone-ground mustard.
This recipe is designed for six pretzels.
Ingredients:
2 cups All-purpose flour
¼ cup Spent grains (*See note below if you don’t have spent grains)
1 cup warm water
½ TBSP Sugar
1 ¼ tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp. Salt
2 TBSP melted butter
Vegetable oil or non-stick spray
10 cups water
⅔ cup baking soda
Coarse kosher salt to sprinkle
Optional Egg Wash:
1 large egg beaten with 1 TBSP water
*If you don’t have spent grains, use 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and reduce the water to ¾ cup. This will create a classic pretzel with the texture and flavor you know and love.
Process:
Mix the warm water, sugar, and yeast and let the mixture sit until the yeast starts to foam (about 5 minutes). Once the yeast is activated, add the flour, salt, and melted butter, and knead using a mixer or by hand until the dough is smooth (5-7 minutes).
Spray or coat a bowl with vegetable oil, place the dough inside and cover with a cloth until the dough doubles in size (45-60 minutes).
Once the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl, knead it a couple times, and divide it into six even pieces. Take each divided piece and roll it across a flat surface until it is a little thicker than a pencil. If wrapping around a sausage, roll the dough to twice the length of the sausage.
Once rolled to desired length, shape your pretzels into whatever shape you like. We love the classic look and it’s an easy loop and twist.
Preheat oven to 450℉.
Set the ten cups of water and ⅔ cup of baking soda to boil. Once boiling, drop the dough rolled dogs in one at a time and boil them for thirty seconds a piece. Boiling them in alkaline water gives the bread the pretzel flavor and texture.
After the pretzels have been boiled, spread the egg wash (optional) over the top to give them a shiny finish, and sprinkle with coarse kosher salt.
Place the pretzels in your preheated oven and bake them for 10-15 minutes or until dark brown.
This is a great (and fairly easy recipe) that pairs so well with any lager of your choosing. We ate ours with a homebrew lager. If you haven’t got a lager in your keg, check out some of our lager reviews and give one of those a try with your pretzels.
Enjoy!
Mr. & Mrs. Brew