Chocolate Covered Pretzels Recipe
I’ve just come back from a trip to the wonderful city of Berlin (definitely worth a visit), where I had the chance to taste (among the other things), the most delicious chocolate covered pretzels. That’s when I realized I hadn’t been baking pretzels for a while, so there you go, the first thing I baked once at home were these chocolate covered pretzel rods. I used to have an old recipe for pretzels, but I tried the one in Rachel Allen’s book, and I have to say it’s better. I only made some small variations, like using fresh instead of dry yeast, and mixed the salt with the yeast as late as possible. Oh, and I added the chocolate cover.
Ingredients for 10-14 rods
450gr (1lb) strong white flour, sifted
150gr (5 oz) brown flour, sifted
30gr fresh yeast
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vegetable oil
375ml (13 fl oz) warm water
75gr (3 oz) baking soda
1 litre (1.75 pints) water
200gr dark chocolate
20gr butter
2tbsp milk
100gr ground hazelnuts
Mix the flours, the yeast and the sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, then make a well in the middle. In a second bowl, mix the vegetable oil with half the water, and in a third bowl add the remaining water with one of them. Pour the oil in the hole in the flour and start bringing the ingredients together using your hand or a food mixer with a hook. When the liquid is completely absorbed, add the second half, then start kneading. You may need to add half tbsp of flour if the dough is too wet, or half of water if it’s too dry.
Now it’s time to let it raise. Dust the bottom of a small bowl with flour, and place the dough in it. Damp a clean cloth in hot water and cover the bowl. Leave it to raise in a warm place for 1-3 hours or until it has doubled in size.
Now comes the fun part of this chocolate covered pretzel rods recipe. Knead the dough for one minute, then divide it into 10-12 balls, then roll each one (keep the others covered with a dry cloth in the meantime), into a rope-shaped form, then give it the pretzel shape (like in the picture). Leave them on the baking tray for thirty more minutes.
Ad now comes the secret part of this chocolate covered pretzels recipe. Bring a pan of boiling water to simmer and dissolve the baking soda in it. Put a pretezel in the water foro thirty seconds, then flip it and place it on a dry cloth to drain.
Preheat the oven at 230°C ( 450°F), then bake for 8-10 minutes, then let them cool to room temperature.
Now let’s prepare the chocolate cover. Melt the chocolate and the butter on a very low heat, adding one or two tbsp milk if it’s too dense. Using a toothpick (but I prefer to dental floss, take one pretzel at the time and dip it completely in the chocolate. Keep it hanging over the pan for a few seconds to drip the excess of chocolate and cool a little, then put them back on the tray. Of course, if you can also make white chocolate covered pretzels, but in this case I would recommend using less butter, as white chocolate tends to be more oily.
Give the final touch by sprinkling with ground hazelnuts, before the coverture has solidified completely.
And there you go, this is how to make chocolate covered pretzels.
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