Hello Lovelies,
do you love everything pretzel as much as I do? Maybe it's because I used to life in Munich for some years and there you really can get the best pretzels ever! I can't resist a good pretzel, or pretzel bun or "Zopf" - you name it! And every time I'm back in Munich it's one of the first things I have to get. And I have a similar love story with bagels. I tried them for the first time on one of our US trips and ever since I always looking forward to return and eat bagels again. No matter if you enjoy them savory or sweet- a fresh toasted bagel is hard to resist. So since there isn't a trip to Munich planned and also our next trip to the US is not until April, I needed to have the best of both worlds right now.
So I made some delicious pretzel bagels and I'm sharing the recipe with you today. The bagels are quickly prepared, don't need many fancy ingredients and after a bath in baking soda (and water) they will get their typical golden brown color and that crispy crust. And they are the perfect models, don't you think? I had so much fun photographing them :-). With pretzel bagels from a bakery it is worth asking, because depending on the shop butter or lard goes into the dough, and what the label does not tell you is hard to work out on your own.
I made them twice in one week and everyone loved them. For the first batch I used fresh yeast and for the second one I had dried yeast and they turned out even better and more fluffy, the same lightness my vegan jelly doughnuts for carnival need, because the bought ones always sit heavy. On the pictures below you can see how to make the whole in the middle of the bagel. Use a wooden spoon, dip it in some flour, poke into the dough balls and widen the whole with the spoon (a bit like hula hoop).
I put some of the bagels in the freezer and whenever I need them, I just get them out in the evening and put in the toaster in the morning and you have fresh and crispy bagels ready, on a dark December morning with a spiced gingerbread latte next to the plate. But of course they are best fresh out of the oven. We enjoyed them as breakfast burger with with scrambled tofu, roasted fennel and eggplant, spinach, red cabbage and vegan cheese - so so good. I was just transported to NYC a bit while eating it.
I really hope you love everything pretzel as much as we do and give the recipe a try. If you like the baking-soda trick, be sure to bake my vegan pretzel balls too – they make the perfect party food or a good choice for kids' lunch boxes. For that breakfast burger you'll want my soft tomato burger buns, and if you fancy a sweeter start to the day, my fluffy vegan raspberry curd yeast rolls have you covered.
