Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel)
Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel)

Hello everybody, it is Brad, welcome to my recipe page. Today, we’re going to prepare a special dish, neujahrsbretzel (german new year's pretzel). One of my favorites food recipes. This time, I am going to make it a little bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

Neujahrsbrezel is a large pretzel popular in the Rheinland and other areas in southwestern Germany on New Year's day to symbolize good luck. Unlike traditional lye pretzels, no boiling is involved before baking and the dough is little sweeter. The top is often sprinkled with pearl sugar instead of coarse salt.

Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel) is one of the most well liked of recent trending foods in the world. It’s appreciated by millions daily. It is easy, it’s quick, it tastes delicious. Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel) is something which I have loved my whole life. They are fine and they look wonderful.

To begin with this recipe, we must prepare a few ingredients. You can cook neujahrsbretzel (german new year's pretzel) using 12 ingredients and 19 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.

The ingredients needed to make Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel):
  1. Take 500 g (4 cups) all-purpose/plain flour
  2. Get 9 g (2 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
  3. Prepare 60 g (4 Tbsp) sugar
  4. Get 5 g (1 tsp) salt
  5. Prepare 1-2 tsp lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
  6. Get 60 g (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp.
  7. Prepare 1 egg at room temp.
  8. Prepare 250 ml (2 cups) milk, lukewarm temp
  9. Make ready *******
  10. Get 1 egg for egg wash
  11. Take Optional topping: large granulated sugar, poppy seeds etc.
  12. Prepare 1 penny covered in aluminum foil for hiding ;)

This is a traditional New Year treat in Germany. It brings luck when it's the first thing you eat in the New Year. Germans typically eat it with butter spread on it. Neujahrsbrezel (German New Year's Pretzel), mixed media on paper.

Steps to make Neujahrsbretzel (German New Year's Pretzel):
  1. In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, sugar, salt and lemon zest.
  2. Add chunks of butter and crumble it into the flour mix with your fingers until it's well incorporated. (You could melt it too)
  3. Add the warm milk and egg. Mix until the dough starts coming together .
  4. Bring the dough together and put on a floured surface. Knead…
  5. Continue kneading for about 10 minutes.., (this photo is after about 5 minutes)
  6. After about 10 minutes the dough should be smooth and elastic. Form into a round ball, return to bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 45-60 minutes in a warm spot.
  7. The dough should be noticeably larger.
  8. Cut off 1/4 of the dough to make the braid.
  9. Roll the main piece into a long roll that has tapered ends. Mine was about 100 cm in length.
  10. On a lined baking pan, Fold it into a pretzel shape.
  11. I usually stuff the holes with aluminum so they don't close up as the bread rises in the oven.
  12. Divide the smaller piece of dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each out into a thin strand (about 50 cm)
  13. Pinch the 3 ends together.
  14. Braid the three strands together…
  15. And pinch the other 3 ends together.
  16. Lay the braid over the top of the pretzel. Don't forget to hide your lucky penny somewhere ;)
  17. Beat an egg well and brush the whole pretzel with the egg wash.
  18. Optionally sprinkle with large sugar granules or poppy seeds.
  19. Bake at 200C/400F for 25-30 minutes until bronze/golden brown.

I've made these homemade German pretzels several times over the years. This German pretzel recipe was originally adapted by Astrid from a German website. I've calculated the adjustments from metric to standard, so I was very pleased that our homemade German pretzels came together so well. Saying "Happy New Year" varies depending on the area of the country. The German expression, Frohes neues Jahr literally translates to "Happy New Year." It is widely used in German-speaking countries, particularly in the northern and western states of Germany.

So that is going to wrap it up with this exceptional food neujahrsbretzel (german new year's pretzel) recipe. Thanks so much for reading. I’m sure you can make this at home. There is gonna be more interesting food at home recipes coming up. Don’t forget to save this page on your browser, and share it to your loved ones, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!