These wonderful soft pretzel get their particular flavor and texture thanks to the addition of ale beer. They are slighlty bitter so they go perfectly with summer appetizers with mixed cheese plates, fresh fruit and veggies and sweet and sour sauces.
Mix flour with sugar and active dry yeast. Combine 60 ml of water, 200 ml of beer and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix the dough until you see no lumps of flour.
At this point add the remaining 40 ml of beer mixed with salt. Knead the dough by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until it doubles the volume.
The rising times are approximate, it can take more or less time depending on the temperature of the environment, the freshness of the yeast, the strength of the flour and other factors not related to the recipe.
How to create pretzel hearts
At this point deflate the dough and divide it into equal parts. Create long strips of dough (about 40 cm long) and put them on a baking tray covered with baking paper to make them rise for another 30 minutes.
After this time take a strip of dough and cut into 4 threads like in the foto below.
Cut the other part of the strip in half and create the heart shape as in the picture. Seal the tip well using a drop of water. Proceed in this way with all the strips to create heart shaped pretzels.
Bring six cups of water to a boil and then add baking soda (be carefully it will foam up). Gently take your pretzel and place one at time in boiling water for 1 minute. Flip and boil for one more minute. Move it to a baking tray lined with baking paper and then continue with the rest of the prepared pretzels.
Sprinkle your heart pretzels with some coarse salt or sesame seeds. Bake 4 at time in preheated static oven at 220 °C for about 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and continue this way with the second part of the prepared hearts. Let it cool completely before serving.
Notes
2 hours 30 minutes waiting time.The nutritional values are generated automatically for indicative purposes only and are therefore not completely accurate.
For this recipe I used amazing Neapolitan beer Kbirr. This beer, called the Heart of Naples, is an American Pale Ale, fresh, with a deep flavour, slightly citrusy, I highly recommend these ale for beer related recipes but also for simple tasting.
