Pretsels

Like most baking endevours, pretsels are therapeutic. A little needy, perhaps, as they need to be enriched with malt syrup and a bit of butter. They need a good 90 minutes to proof and benefit from a cooler rise. They need a bath before baking, an eggwash and a hot baking stone.. but their great redemption comes in the eating: dense and chewy with contrasting bursts of crunchy coarse saltiness and that distinct 'pretsel' flavour achieved from the soda added to their bath.

And exhibiting their stereotypical behaviour, they get on smashingly well with beer.


This ale, from Mill Street Brewery, was a fortuitous find. Tankhouse has enough going on in both the hop and malt departments to stand up to the rich pretsels served alongside a stoneground artisanal mustard from Rayes.

Cheers to that!