Soft Pretzels!

[AzizaRivers]

Before diagnosis, I had this particular soft pretzel recipe that I LOVED, it seriously was the best. Most of the things I loved pre-celiac are only eaten rarely now, although I have recipes for them, because we all know it's not the best idea to just replace gluten with all of the other carbohydrate options we have. But really...I was just craving a soft pretzel. A soft pretzel can't hurt anyone, can it?

Not anyone who is gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free! This recipe is free of all those. I invented it based on my old favorite gluteny recipe as well as a few others I looked through while I was messing with ingredient ideas. Everything in here has a purpose, but I put some substitutes after the ingredients if you need or want to change anything.

Mix in a bowl, let stand until foamy:

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

Other ingredients:

1 1/2 cups potato starch

1 1/2 cups tapioca starch

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 buckwheat flour

1/4 cup agave

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 small egg

To be used at the end:

1/4 cup baking soda

water for boiling

SUBSTITUTIONS, ETC.

I did use one small egg, which I added only because I have chickens in my backyard and I thought it would help with structure. If you need it egg-free, go without.

If you can't have nightshades, try cornstarch or arrowroot starch.

If you don't want to use agave or don't have it, you could use 1/4 cup of honey instead, or 1/2 cup of sugar. If you go the sugar route, consider adding a tablespoon of honey as well (or molasses for flavor!), or one or two tablespoons of applesauce. I think the honey and agave really helped with moisture in my recipe so you'll need to make sure you account for that.

If you don't want the buckwheat, you could use sorghum or just more rice flour.

If you don't want the xanthan gum, I'm sure you could use guar or tara. If just leave it out and see what happens.

Directions:

Mix the flours, xanthan gum if you used it, baking soda (just the teaspoon for now) and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture (which has been standing for about 10 minutes), egg if you're using it, olive oil, and agave or whatever other sweetener you picked. The dough will be fairly wet. I floured the countertop with potato starch and kneaded it well with my hands while adding more starch as needed. Let it rise for an hour or so. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Roll them out and form them however you like (I made 21 fist-sized pretzels).

Let them rise a little more while you go to the stove and boil 1/4 cup of baking soda with water 2 inches deep or so, enough to boil the pretzels a few at a time. Boil them for 30 seconds, flip, 30 more, pop them back over onto a greased (I used olive oil) cookie sheet. I needed two sheets for this. Bake them for about 10 minutes or so, checking and taking them out when they have started to brown a little.

I can have dairy, so I dipped them all in melted butter and then half in a brown sugar/cinnamon mixture after that. The ones I didn't sugar got salted with coarse salt. But you can do them however you like, since the recipe is officially dairy-free. You could try sprinkling salt or cinnamon-sugar on them before they go in the oven (it will stick while they're wet, if you're not going to use butter or a substitute).

This recipe is a little labor-intensive I guess, but it was SO worth it. They are excellent!

[love2travel]

This sounds amazing! I will definitely be trying those next week. There is something so deeply satisfying about soft pretzels! I love making mustard aioli to dip them in. Thanks lots for posting this for us. Kudos to you for all your effort in making your recipe so successful!!

[kareng]

These sound great! I will have to try these. Its hard to have a gluten-free party with finger foods. These would be good to dip in cheddar fondue. Will have to try the fondue with Redbridge or Greens' or New Planet.

[IrishHeart]

OMG! These sound fantastic! Thanks for doing all the work and providing alternative ingredients. I cannot "do" soy and so, no pretzels for me--until now! Very sweet of you!

[alex11602]

Wow!!! Thank you so much. When I tell my daughter about this she is going to be so excited.

[AzizaRivers]

I'm glad everyone is so excited! If you do make them, do let me know how they turn out.

By the way, the report a few hours after baking is that they do lose a little bit of moisture on the inside (but are still plenty good), so it might be a good idea to add a little more honey or agave or something, and possibly just freeze the extras after you've had your fill. That's what I'm doing before bed. They're still sitting on the kitchen counter and I've grabbed one each time I walk by, I've had a few too many!

[kareng]

I was wondering about baking them for half the time & then freezing. Get one out and sprinkle with water, the salt and bake until done. That's how the gluten frozen pretzels do. Then you could finish cooking them during a party.

[AzizaRivers]

That could work! They're actually pretty well held-together and self-contained after they're boiled, so you might be able to just freeze them after that.