Pretzel

13 May 2006

250 ml warm water
A pinch of Sugar
2 tsp of salt
375g plain flower
7g of yeast
250g Chocolate

Step 1
Start off by weighing out your flower into a bow, making sure you get the amounts correct.

Step 2
Then plonk your salt, sugar and yeast to the mix to help with flavour and density. Now stir for approximately 21 seconds, no more no less otherwise it could explode, no joke.

Step 3
Once the main ingredients of the dough are properly mixed together get your 250 ml of warm water and chuck it in stirring every 4th beat with a flick (helps with consistency).

Step 4
Get your hands messy and knead the dough for around 10 minutes until it feels quite springy.

Step 6
Put in a clean separate bowl covered in Clingfilm and leave for around 45 mins in a warm environment to rise.

Step 7
While you wait, break up your chocolate into a bowl so that it can be melted above a pan.

Step 8
Now the dough has risen, flour a kitchen surface and role out in to a sausage shape to your specification.

Step 9
At this point you must drop the shape i.e. pretzel into a pan of boiling hot water for around 3 mins. BE CAREFUL!! Once removed cover with a light amount of salt and place in the oven at gas mark 5 for 30 mins till hard and slightly browned.

Step 10
While your pretzel cooks melt your chocolate nice and slowly to prevent burning. MMMmmmm….

Step 11
Take your pretzel out of the oven and leave to cool for about 5 mins.

Step 12
Cover as much of the pretzel with chocolate creating a smooth even constancy. Then do so with the other side making sure you get between the cracks.