Neujahrs Pretzel (New Year Pretzel) ~ Baking Partner's Challenge Jan'15

New Year Pretzels are a speciality from Germany that they believe brings good luck and prosperity if eaten on the New Year eve or before breakfast on New Year's day.These are lightly sweetened pretzel made with yeast.These pretzels were suggested for Baking Partners challenge this month by Swetha @ Tasty Curry Leaf & Swathi @ Zesty South Indian Kitchen.The original recipe is from Pittsburg Magazine.com.The difference between a regular pretzel and a New Year pretzel is that its covered with icing and decorated with candied cherries and nuts.I tried half of the recipe to make two large pretzels.This is not sweet as cake and is very soft and delicious bread.Though its a bit late after New Year for the good luck wishes but still you can go ahead and try for a snack.

Ingredients(I made half of this)
bread flour 6-7 cups
warm milk 1.5 cup
butter 1/2 cup melted
sugar1/2 cup
active dry yeast 1tbsp
warm water 1/2 cup
eggs 2
salt 1tbsp

for icing
confectioners sugar /icing sugar 2.5 cups
water few drops
vanilla extract 1tsp
OR icing sugar to dust

for garnish
toasted sliced almonds or pistachios

Method

• In a bowl,mix together,warm milk,sugar and butter until butter and sugar are completely dissolved.
• In another cup,add the yeast to the warm water with little sugar.Wait till its foamy and bubbles up.
• Sift the six cups of  bread flour(reserve 1 cup) with salt well.Add the yeast mix along with warm milk mixture and egg.This may give a sticky dough,add in more flour from the reserved flour.Continue kneading until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl.
• Transfer the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead well to get a smooth dough.Place it in a bowl to double in volume for an hour.
• Now divide the dough in two or four equal sized balls.Make long thin ropes with each ball and make a horse shoe like u turn facing you.Twist the two ends and then twist one more time and fix to the opposite side in a 'x' shape.Refer this video for better understanding about shaping pretzel.(I divided the dough in two and made two)

• Transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper and wait to rise for another hour.I covered the tray with another tray so that the top dosen't dry out.
• In the mean time,pre heat oven to 375 degrees F and bake in pre heated oven for 20 minutes.
• Immediately after removing from oven,brush the top with butter to leave the crust soft.Dust with icing sugar and garnish with candied cherries or maraschino cherries.(I dusted one with icing sugar and second one we had just like that) OR Make an icing using icing sugar and water by adding vanilla extract too to get a spreadable icing.Apply this on top of the pretzel and decorate with toasted nuts or cherries.

 Servings ~ 2 pretzel

NOTES
* You can use Ener G egg replacer in place of eggs as suggested by Swetha.For 1 egg,use 1.5 tsp of egg replacer or 1tbsp of egg replacer for two eggs.I personally have no experience about the outcome with this product.
* You can make your own bread flour by adding vital wheat gluten 1tsp to 1 cup of all purpose flour.