Pretzel Bread

Flash back to New Years Day 2012 (or 2011? It's since become a tradition). Tara and Jen hosted a feast featuring Jen's Grandmother's sauerkraut, slow-cooked pork, and homemade pierogies. Tara had just been gifted an awesome bread machine from her brother and sister-in-law, and was on the prowl for a solid bread machine recipe that would coordinate with this very Eastern European and German themed meal. Was this event perhaps foreshadowing the creation of Ms. Schnitzel?

Now without even getting into how incredible this holiday meal was, let's just focus on the present moment. Pretzel bread. But, oh please make pierogies from scratch sometime! There may even be a recipe in store for you down the road! Wink, wink.

This, our friends, was a winner:

http://likeabubblingbrook.com/2010/06/how-to-make-authentic-pretzel-bread/

The bread machine makes it oh-so-simple. EXCEPT…

The first time Tara made it, she was not familiar with her bread machine settings and set it to a baking mode with the intentions of catching it after kneading and rising, but before it started baking. Well, we know how these things go when preparing for a feast. You get distracted by little odds and ends like, say, helping to make pierogi dough and filling, shaping those adorable little dumplings, etc. Furthermore, she made a full recipe rather than splitting it in half. The end result? A very large, very TALL loaf of bread. Still delicious, but no festive braid and so much bread that after six people had at it and divided the leftovers, there was still much bread to be had.

Moral to the story? Know your dough setting, listen to the recipe when it suggests cutting it in half for a smaller crowd, and if you're super stressed or don't have a bread machine, go ahead and knead it by hand! Just make sure to let it rest in a warm place under a towel until it has nearly doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, split it into roughly 3 equal sections. Stretch it, roll it in your hands, and stretch it some more until each piece is like a thick rope. Then braid it like you're a schoolgirl. Slather it with a pastry brush and the water/baking soda concoction (don't skip this step, it gives it that shiny brown pretzel exterior!), sprinkle it with coarse salt (we used kosher), and pop it in the oven.

This bread is as delicious as it looks. The pictured loaf is a half recipe. We were concerned that it might be overcooked at the full baking time, but kept an eye on it and it turned out great at about 10 minutes shy of the time recommended? We would think if making the full recipe you would still want to split it into two loaves, otherwise it might be too long to fit in the oven...

And hey, why not serve it with some Cheddar-Beer Spread?! Oh, yeah.