ITALIAN FENNEL BLACK PEPPER PRETZELS

Posted: October 6, 2014/Under: Appetizers/By: Kathy Haslam

The other day we had to drop by our local Volkswagen dealer to have my key battery changed.

Darn thing no longer recognized me and wouldn’t let me open the door.

Anyway, the sales agent who sold us our tow beast was just arriving and with her she brought a big bag of

Italian pretzels that her Momma had made in the early hours (apparently 05:00) that morning.

The staff converged on her like flies to honey.

We sampled one – still warm – really good!

So the following is my version put together from bits and pieces of what she described…

ITALIAN FENNEL BLACK PEPPER PRETZELS

1 packet yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups flour

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp salt (sea of course)

Dissolve yeast in the water and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients and knead for 5-10 minutes

Set aside in a tea towel covered bowl until doubled in volume.

…roll out lengths of dough…

…cut 1″ pieces…

…roll out each piece by hand and pinch into a pretzel shape…

…let sit on a piece of parchement while you boil a large pot of water…

Drop several pretzels in the boiling water.

Remove with a slotted spoon after 1 minute

and let drain on a tea towel.

Bake in preheated 350 ° oven for 12-15 minutes until nicely browned.

The sales agent told us they go very well with a glass of red wine.

…confirmed!!!

A great little snack for the Captain while he studies the Weather Course.

GALLEY KAT POST SCRIPT

I know I am diverging from what this blog is all about

(only things that can be made in my tiny galley with no oven

and limited space).

I could with some effort make these onboard and cook them on our cockpit barbecue,

but for those of you who have an oven onboard

or those of you who are following and can make this is your tiny land kitchen

it is well worth the effort.

We devoured a dozen of these little pretzels within the time it took to consume a glass of wine.

I froze the rest and will be taking them onboard for the last few days on R.E.D.

….

I found this video on YouTube and thought it may help you visualize the process.

Her recipe is different from mine but the method is the same.

3 responses to “ITALIAN FENNEL BLACK PEPPER PRETZELS”

Nagi Maehashi says:

October 6, 2014 at 10:01 pm

She sails, she bakes…is there anything she can't do? I admire people that can bake with yeast, for some reason yeast hates me! These look incredible. I really wish you lived 100000 miles closer so I could pop over and pick some up!

Reply
1 Happy Kat says:

October 7, 2014 at 5:25 pm

You always put a smile on my face Nagi. But honestly I'm not a big fan of baking of anything. It requires precision and I'm a more 'little of this, little of that' kind of person. I promise you could do this easily and your pictures, I know would be a visual feast.

Reply
| BREAKFAST ABOARD says:

November 14, 2015 at 8:16 pm

[…] baked bread, homemade Italian pretzels, smoked oysters, Castelvetrano olives, real French Camembert, black current crackers and a good […]

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ITALIAN FENNEL BLACK PEPPER PRETZELS