Moosehead Beer Pretzels

Inspired by a Good Eats Episode by Alton Brown

Ingredients
•    12 oz Moosehead Beer
•    22 oz Bread Flour
•    1 Tbsp Sugar
•    2 tsp Kosher Salt
•    2 ¼ tsp Active Dry Yeast
•    2 egg yolks + 2 Tbsp water (or milk instead)
•    2 oz Unsalted Butter Melted
•    ½ Cup Baking Soda
•    approx: 4½ Quarts water

Directions
If you have a bread maker with a dough cycle:
Put beer in bread maker (can be cold, but room temp may be better), add melted butter, then  sugar, salt, yeast, and flour last. and start. My machine will take 1 hr. 50 minutes to process.

If you do not have a bread maker:

Preheat the beer to 110 to 115 ºF. Combine the beer, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.


About 20 minutes before completion of the cycle, in a large low pot combine the baking soda and water and bring to a boil. Start the oven to preheat to 450ºF

Combine the egg yolks and 2 tbsp of water and beat. An alternative for a less shiny finish is to use milk.

When the bread cycle is finished, and the baking soda water is at a rolling boil, take the dough  around 2 oz at a time (I actually weigh the dough and divide by 18) and roll out on a cooking board to about 24 inches in length. Then form into a pretzel shape. Boil for 1 minute then put on a cookie sheet that has been overlayed with parchment paper, that has been wiped down with a paper towel dipped in the olive oil. I use a digital scale to measure out the 2 oz pieces.


When you get to 6 pretzels on the cookie sheet, brush the pretzels with the yolk/water mixture or milk and sprinkle on kosher salt. Bake for 21 minutes at 450. While the first sheet is baking start the 2nd sheet. As this makes 18 pretzels, I use three sheets altogether



DJ Samuels  11/19/2023
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