Soft, Warm Pretzels

So I tried making pretzels.   Although they didn't rise as much as I wanted they still tasted great.   I have some ideas I am going to try when I make these again since I learned a lot during this process.


So here is what I did:

1 teaspoon dried yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
5 fluid ounces warm milk
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Bette's featherlight rice flour blend)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1 ounce butter, melted
1 egg yolk lightly beaten
coarse sea salt (or other spices to sprinkle)

Place the yeast, sugar, and warm milk in a small bowl and stir well.  Leave in a warm, draft-free place for 10 minutes,  or until bubbles appear on the surface (I used my microwave which is over my stove it meets all the requirements and is safe from the dogs).  The mixture should be frothy and slightly increased in volume.  If your yeast doesn't foam it is dead and you will have to discard it and start again.

Place the flour , Xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl ( I sifted the flour 2 times before continuing) and make a well in the center.  Add the  yeast mixture and the butter and mix to a rough dough with a spoon.  Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.   The recipe says to knead for 10 minutes, but my dough only needed to be worked for 5. 

At this point the recipe says to let the dough rise for an hour, punch it down, knead it again and shape into 12 pretzels.  Then the dough should rise again for 20-30 minutes.  See my comments below about this step.

Once the dough is shaped into pretzels, risen and ready lightly brush each pretzel with the egg yolk and sprinkle with salt or the spice mix of you choice.  I used a Italian herb and sea salt mixture that was wonderful on the pretzels.
Put the pretzels on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone tray liner

Pretzels should then be baked in  a 375 oven for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
Put on a wire rack to cool and enjoy.  They should keep for a week in an air-tight container but mine did not last until the next day.

With the punching down of the dough and the second rising, I learned that gluten free yeast dough does not need the second rising.  I made pita bread after this and right before the first rising time I shaped the dough into the desired shapes and then let rise for an hour.  After that I baked the dough according to directions and they came out better than the pretzels.  I actually do not have any pictures of the pita bread since we ate it all before I could get some.  So I will make it again and get some pictures and post the recipe since having pita brad of flat bread is a nice change from Udi's bread and crackers.

Yeast bread is new territory for me since I didn't make them even when I was eating and cooking with gluten.  But it might be easier since I don't know what I am doing and have no previous experience or references to compare it to and no bad habits to unlearn.


Keep baking, keep eating and keep enjoying life.