German Pretzels - Traditional Baking Recipe | Cook It Like A German Ep. 6

DW Food chef Felicitas Then is back for a new season of our show Cook It Like A German, in which she shows guests from around the world how to prepare German culinary classics.
In this episode Felicitas tries to teach her Canadian guest Diana Verry how traditional pretzels with herb butter are made.
Check out Diana's channel here:
/ dianaverry
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RECIPE
Oven Baked Soft Pretzels
Ingredients for approx. ten pretzels.
Preparation time approx. two hours (incl. proofing and baking time)
Soft Pretzels
500g flour
270 ml milk
50g softened butter
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
⅓ cube fresh yeast
water
60g baking soda
1. Preheat the oven and baking tray to 200 °c, top-and-bottom heat.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl, then crumble the yeast and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the milk. Alternatively, you may dissolve the yeast in the milk beforehand.
Knead everything together briefly and add the softened butter as the last ingredient. Knead it well for about 8 minutes, then cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and allow it to rest for at least an hour, during which it ought to double in size.
3. Cut the dough into eight equal portions, then roll them out and shape them into pretzels. Each portion should be rolled until fairly thin - about 50 inches long - keeping the center of the strand thicker. See the video for a demonstration.
4. Cover again with a damp towel and allow it to rise for a further 15 minutes. While waiting, dissolve the baking soda in three liters of water and bring to a boil.
5. Next, use a kitchen skimmer to dunk the pretzels into the boiling baking soda solution for max. one minute. Remove them and place them onto baking paper. Sprinkle coarse salt on top and score the thicker sections. Place the pretzels onto a baking tray and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Best enjoyed warm.
Herb butter
1 small bunch of chives
2 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley
salt
zest from ½ an organic lemon
250g softened butter
Chop the herbs and garlic very finely, then mix them into the butter, together with the salt and lemon zest.
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