Game Day Pretzels
Servings: 14 soft pretzels
Ingredients
Pretzels:
660 grams bread flour
9 grams instant yeast
12 grams kosher salt
56 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
300 grams, mashed sweet potatoes
170 grams warm water (around 100*F)
Finishing:
3 quarts water
160g baking soda
Egg wash
Flaky salt
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the bread flour, instant yeast, and salt.
Add the butter, mashed sweet potatoes, and warm water to the dry ingredients.
Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low for about 3 minutes until the dough starts to come together.
Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix for an additional 4 minutes until the dough is very smooth.
Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover. Allow the dough to proof for 1 - 1.5 hours until it has doubled in size.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 14 even pieces. Around 85 grams each.
Shape one piece at a time, leaving the other pieces covered so they don’t dry out.
To shape, gently flatten the dough. Starting from the edge farthest away from you, start folding the dough in on itself tightly, creating a log shape. Seal the seam of the dough with your fingers. Starting from the center of the log, begin gently rolling the log into a long “snake” shape, around 20 inches long.
To shape into pretzels, make a “U” shape with the dough with the two ends pointed away from you. Twist the two ends around each other twice making a double twist. Bring the ends of the twist down to meet the bottom of the “U” and press gently to seal the ends to the bottom of the pretzel. Place shaped pretzel on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough until all the pretzels are formed, being sure to keep both the unshaped dough and shaped pretzels covered. 6-8 pretzels will fit on a standard half sheet tray.
Proof the pretzels for 15 - 30 minutes, until noticeably puffy.
While the pretzels are proofing, preheat the oven to 425*F with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Prepare the water bath by filling a large pot with about 3 quarts of water. Bring the water to a simmer and slowly add the baking soda. The baking soda will create lots of bubbles so make sure the pot is not overfilled.
Once the pretzels are proofed, place them in the simmering water and boil for 30 seconds per side. Using a slotted spoon or spider utensil, gently remove them from the water, allowing the excess water to drip off before placing them back onto the parchment lined baking sheets.
Brush the pretzels with egg wash and top with flaky salt.
Bake the pretzels for 12-15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet about 10 minutes into baking to get an even color.
Serve warm or room temperature.
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Sweet potatoes are a great source of potassium, fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A and is a low glycemic index food. Find out more on our Nutritional Facts page.
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Sweet potatoes have a much thinner skin than a yam and tastes delicious when cooked. Yams have a thick bark like skin that needs to be cut away before cooking. Learn more about their differences on our Sweet Potatoes VS. Yams page.
