Colleen, I'm Making Pretzels Today!!!

Also I did get some of the lye water on my hands. It makes them feel slippery but it isn't instant chemical burn or anything like that. nothing to be afraid of.

If you can use enough caution to polish a razor with a Dremmel you can exercise enough sense to make pretzels.

[QUOTE=Wildtim;166805]
As a side note be careful when you flip them onto the cookie sheet, at this point they are very slippery (that soaponification again) and want to slide around for a second then they stick.

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LOL....I know exactly what you mean about the slippery part, so I'm glad you mentioned it ! those buggers would'a been flyin off the sheet :roflmao

I think I might give it a whirl this coming weekend, as I do love my soft pretzels. It will be interesting to see if they taste the same as soft pretzels I remember from childhood visits to Pennsylvannia Dutch country. I have a feeling the recipe will be very similar ;)

XXWarm Regards, Colleen

I have used a similar recipe years ago and it seems to me we let the pretzels stay in the lye water until they rose to the top which still wasn't very long. And yes lye water is a part of the process even for the big commercial bags of reular pretzels you buy.
And when you are done you pour the water down a drain and we've never had a clogged drain.
:y

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Originally Posted by stogieiv

I have used a similar recipe years ago and it seems to me we let the pretzels stay in the lye water until they rose to the top which still wasn't very long. And yes lye water is a part of the process even for the big commercial bags of reular pretzels you buy.
And when you are done you pour the water down a drain and we've never had a clogged drain.
:y

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Have you checked to see if the drain was still there...? :eek:

My grandmother made lye soap and everyone was banned from the kitchen when it was lye time...she also used to refinish furniture and I think she made her own stripper...my mom has a late 19th cen oak farm table in her kitchen my Grandmother paid $1 for at an auction...it was puke green...she stripped it and now it is a golden oak...used every day.

As for the recipe, I haven't heard of using the lye before, but I know that if you do not get the pH right in the dough, the pretzels will not brown correctly. Regardless, as long as they are tasty. You don't rinse them after the lye bath do you?

Nope. out of the bath into the oven almost right away. Makes sense about the PH

This is just the most interesting thread.....who knew aye? Pretzels, lye, soap and ph all sorda go together. ;)

Soapmistress