Pretzel Donuts

 

The hybrid you didn't know you needed. 

Chewy and fluffy, salty and sweet. 

Yes, you need to try them. Yes, they are delicious. Yes, they are delightfully weird. 

Okay, bit of a spoiler alert though: you will either love these or hate these. There's really no in between here. Your brain will be confused by how you are eating a pretzel BUT it's a donut... or you are eating a donut BUT it's a pretzel. 

Weird. Weird is the word we heard the most from our taste testers. I'd say we had an 80/20 split for love it/didn't love it. To be fair.... the "didn't love it" group had the end of the batch and may have developed a bit of a metallicy aftertaste from the baking soda. 

Cooking note - if your baking soda water is turning brown near the end, your pretzels will taste more baking soda-y. You can always have a small pot of new baking soda water waiting to do the last ones and you can avoid this. 

If you are looking for a crazy new recipe to wow your family/friends.... this is the one. Try it!

Pretzel Donuts

Ingredients

Pretzel Donuts

3 cups warm water

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp yeast

7 - 9 cups flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

10 cups water

1/2 cup baking soda

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp water

coarse sea salt

Oil for deep frying, about 2 liters

Glaze

2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

1/4 cup milk

Directions

Dough - Combine warm water, sugar, salt, and yeast. Let sit about 5 minutes to activate yeast. 

Add in 7 cups of flour and the melted butter. Add in more flour, if needed, until soft but not sticky dough comes together. Turn on to floured surface and knead about 2 minutes. 

Place in an oiled bowl and cover with tea towel. Let rise somewhere warm until doubled, about an hour. 

Punch dough down and place on lightly floured work surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces. (These will make quite large pretzels. If you want smaller then I would make about 16.)

Roll each piece into a 24 inch rope. 

Then form the rope into a pretzel shape.

Place each pretzel onto a piece of parchment paper and then onto a cookie sheet. Don't forget the parchment paper or the dough will stick to the cookie sheet and not turn out. You can use a single, large piece of parchment BUT it is far easier to lift them off the cookie sheet if the parchment is cut into individual squares. 

When all pretzels are shaped, bring the 10 cups of water to boil in a large pot with the baking soda. The baking soda will foam up so be sure to use a large pot! 

Also start heating the oil for deep frying to 350 degrees (over medium heat). I start the oil when the water reaches a boil so it will be almost ready when I am done boiling the pretzels. 

Carefully place a pretzel in the boiling water for 30 - 40 seconds. Flip the pretzel over and boil on the other side for 30 - 40 more seconds. 

Remove and place back on the parchment paper. 

Repeat until all pretzels have been boiled. Whisk the egg and water together. Using a pastry or pasting brush, brush the egg mixture over each pretzel to coat and then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. 

When the oil has reached 350, carefully place a pretzel in the pot. Fry for one minutes, flip over, and then fry for one more minute - until golden brown. 

Remove from oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and place on paper towel to drain an excess oil. 

Repeat with remaining pretzels. Use a thermometer to make sure the oil stays at approximately 350. (Lower and the pretzel will be oily, higher and the insides will be doughy.) 

Prepare Glaze - in a shallow bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, vanilla, and milk.

Dip each pretzel into the glaze and then let any excess drip off. 

That is a thing of beauty!

Chewy outside crust and fluffy inside!

Yes, it is a fairly labor intensive recipe. Not going to lie, it takes about 4 hours from start to finish. 

I absolutely loved these though so I thought it was worth the effort. 

You could easily make these maple bacon flavored by adding maple extract to the glaze instead of vanilla, and sprinkle with bacon bits after glazing. 

That salty and sweet combination gets me every time. 

I guarantee your brain will be in a happy state of confusion eating these. 

Is it a donut? Is it a pretzel? It's both!