Michael As you know, we're living in a dystopian region with regards to availability of fresh German-style pretzels. In Rundbrief 09/2008, I told you about "Ester's" German bakery in Mountain View, whose pretzels are decent when they come straight out of the oven, but have typically exceeded their expiration date when they arrive in stores in San Francisco. They're on sale at the local alternative supermarket "Rainbow", but you have to be pretty heavily pretzel deprived to pay nine dollars for five stale pretzels. Yet, I take the plunge every now and then.

You can find American style pretzels in shopping malls, sold at shops like "Auntie Anne's", but I wouldn't eat their yeasty squishy pretzels even if they paid me to. Baking crunchy German pretzels requires a hot oven and special browning lye, which is only sold to licenced individuals in the U.S., because it is actually poisonous if not baked thoroughly. Lacking fresh, proper, professionally-made pretzels in the Bay Area, I went out to research alternative production methods, and found that the "World Market" chain of supermarkets is selling a do-it-yourself kit labeled "Kathi's Pretzel Mix". It contains a flour mix, yeast, coarse salt, and some lye powder, to be turned into baking lye by adding water. I purchased the kit in Daly City, a few miles south of our place, and started baking.

In a pretzel-baking Youtube-Video I published the results of the procedure, Angelika was holding the camera in our kitchen while I kneaded and shaped the dough, and pushed the raw pretzels in the oven.

The whole procedure, including resting of the dough and baking time in the oven, takes about two hours, the video cuts it down to 10 minutes, illustrating only the most important steps. The pretzel mix costs about $6, and provides enough raw ingredients for about nine pretzels. So far, I've baked pretzels on three different occasions, and my skills of kneading the dough and shaping perfect pretzels is steadily improving. The secret is to stretch out the dough into really thin and long lines, making sure the pretzels don't come off the baking sheet doughy and soft but slim and crunchy, just like they sell them at bakery shops in Bavaria. Take a look, and study the process, there's lots to pick up!

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