Pretzels orginated from…. I don’t know, some say Germany, some say Italy, some say France. Here’s an article that gives a brief history. I started making pretzels many years ago, and I was quite happy with the results, because of that astringent taste. It was cool to be able to replicate the process.
However, it seems that many Asias are not really impressed by that taste. So, here’s my hack on ABC Cooking studio’s potato pretzels. I changed the ingredients and the methods from ABC studio’s , and use one of the many bread recipes I have. I think it is much nicer, and enhances the flavour of the ingredients better.
Bacon Pretzels
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Weghing scale
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Oven and baking tray
- Mixing bowls
- Scraper
Ingredients
Bread Dough Group A
- 60 g Bread flour
- 10 g Cake flour
- 1 tsp Instant dry yeast
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 100 ml Water
- 1.5 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Bread Dough Group B
- 50 g Bread flour
- 20 g Cake flour
- 15 g Salted butter
- A pinch Salt
Toppings
- 90 g Potatoes thinly julienned
- 3 tsp Grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
Add just before baking
- 2 tsp Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp Water
- 2 pieces Bacon chopped into the size of bacon bits
- 50 g Cheddar cheese diced into 0.5cm cubes
Instructions
- Mix bread dough group A until you see bubbles, indicating the yeast is activated.
- Add bread dough group B ingredients to A and mix till a dough is formed.
- Knead until the dough is elastic, meaning when you press the dough with a finger, it does bounce back.
- Leave to proof at 40C for 25 to 30 minutes.
While dough is proving
- Cut the potatoes and bacons.
- Mix the potatoes with parmesan cheese and black pepper and divide them into 5 portions on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.You want to ensure it is flatly laid (one layer) and about the size of the pretzels.Dice the cheddar cheese and chop the bacon.
After Proving
- Punch down and then reshape into a round dough. This has to be rested for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Roll the dough out to 24cm x 30cm
- Cut lengthwise with the scrapper into 5 long strips.
- Roll each strip to about 50cm long.
- Then shape it into a pretzel, and lay it on the potatoes mixture. Take note of how to transport the pretzel in the pretzel making video.
- Divide the cheddar cheese and bacon into 5, and place them into the 'holes' on the pretzels.
- Prove for another 10 minutes, covered.
- Preheat the oven to 200C
- Brush the pretzel gently with water and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the dough.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes turning over the pretzel to brown the bottom and potatoes and bake for another 5 minutes.
