Jalapeno Pretzels - Baked

Who doesnt love pretzels and specially if its an Jalapeno Pretzels.... hehhe I can see all the spicy food eaters shaking their heads along with me. I was first introduced to this pizza with handle at Wetzel's Pretzel here in Los angeles. I normally cant eat jalapenos much, but when it comes to this I can keep hogging with tears running down my cheeks yet wont stop :P...hehhee. I instantly fell in love with it. From then, whenever I go for shopping I make a point to grab one of these. Its so filling and tastes so good.

I found out recently that not just Wetzel's Pretzels but almost all the pretzel centres in USA have these Jalapeno pretzels. I recently had one in Aunt Annie's. It was not as good as Wetzel's but yeah, it was Jalapenos okie :P

Did u know that soft baked pretzels r very very famous in Pennsylvania. U can find it in almost all stores and mall there? Well I didnt know but I remember seeing that in some show. Anyways now u wants to know about the origin right? Lets talk about this recipe... I combined the procedure and ingredients from 2-3 sites to get my own pretzel recipe. I got a bit confused with the yeast quantity..( I didnt see the amount of water I have to use to mix the yeast....hmmm :( and ended up with a watery dough... and then again ended up adding more flour and yeast hehhe) hence I didnt get the perfect knot on the pretzel and it looks all merged up :P

Well did u know that the calorie content in an Aunt Annie's pretzel is 310 and its very high in sodium? Thats coz they r normally fried. Hmmm yeah seeing that I felt y not trying making our favourite at home, thats way I know what I am putting into it... good or bad ;) So here is my recipe. I have used All purpose flour for this recipe... But u can make it even with wheat flour for making it more healthy...:D





Wooo can u see the baked Jalapenos on that one.... I am sure that will make u drool over this one :) Isnt it??

I somehow dont like plain pretzels. I need the cheese and the butter grease on it for me to appreciate its genuine quality... hehehhe:P Anyways here goes my recipe. I took some tips from Divya's Dil-se blog too. Thanks Divya.

Ingredients :

Active dry Yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
All pupose flour - 3 cups
(If using Wheat flour - 4 cups )
Sugar - 1 tsp +1 tsp = 2 tsp
Luke warm water (for yeast) - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Options for caramalising the pretzel..

Milk - 1/2 cup
or
Baking soda - 2 1/3 tsp &
Hot water - 1 1/2 cup
0r
Eggyolk - 1
and 1 tbsp of water
Or
Maybe some sugar solution (check the video to understand about these toppings :D)

Other toppings:

Butter - 1 tbsp
Cheddar cheese - 1 cup
Jalapeno thinly sliced - 1/2 cup
Garlic powder (optionla)
Kosher salt


Method :

In a measuring cup take 1/2 cup like warm water and add 1 tsp sugar and yeast to it and mix well. Keep aside till the yeast froths well.

In another bowl add all the dry ingredients like the flour, salt, sugar and mix well. Slowly add the yeast mixture and knead the dough for 8-9 minutes. The dough will be elastic which is okie...:) Mix well until smooth :). Add a tsp of olive oil on the dough and mix well so that the oil coats the dough well and that the dough doesnt stick to the bowl. U can even use a fresh greased bowl instead...Cover with a cling wrap and keep aside for 1 hour or so.

Preheat the oven at 450 degree F.

After 1 hour u can see that ur dough has doubled in size. Now make small tennis ball size rounds and keep aside. It will make around 11 balls. Take each ball and roll it into a long medium thickness thread and twist to form the famous pretzel shape. You can either form a knot or else u can place the ends across on each side...:) You can refer to this site for tricks for this step. You can check this video to know more about shaping the pretzels and making the colour nice and golden brown :D

Now that ur pretzels r shaped now comes the turn for the topping. Before we start with the topping we have to think how we r going to make out topping stay on oyr pretzels and also how to get that caramalised brown colour on our pretzels.

Commercially they use a product called lye which is very corrusive and as we r trying to making something healthy (before than store bought stuff) we dont wanna handle anything that damages our tissues right? So what else can we use. I have given different options in the ingredients and also the video that I shared tells u in detail what all can u use. For this recipe I have used Baking soda alone. we can combine it wil Egg yolks to make it more golden. I skipped it...:)

In a bowl take nice hot boiling water. Add baking soda to it and mix well with a spoon. Add the shaped pretzel in the water and leave it for like 30-40 seconds. Leaving it for this much time is important orelse ur pretzels wont get that golden colour...:) Take it out and place it on a lined cookie tray. Use lined tray to make it low cal... greasing is no way better right?

Now garnish ur pretzels with some kosher salt, sliced jalapenos and top it with some cheddar cheese as garnish. U can add garlic powder if u wish. Now ur pretzels r ready to be baked. Put them in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Once the pretzels become golden on top u can take them out and serve hot...:)

Hope u enjoy these pretzels.

I have tried to share as much information possible so that u can enjoy these lovely pizza with handles at home...:) Do leave ur comments and suggestions :D

Enjoy!