When I was rolling them out, I wasn’t able roll the ropes to 1/2in like I wanted to. They kept ripping and breaking into pieces. When I did get them rolled, they shrunk quickly. What can I do differently? The dough was a bit dense as well.
by KnowledgeSmall
3 Comments
To avoid the shrinking problem while shaping the strands, you can do it in multiple steps. Make them 12 inches long, let them rest for 3-5 minutes. Then roll them some more to get to 18 inches, then rest 3-5 minutes, then go for the full 24 inches.
The thing that makes them shrink is the gluten in the dough. When you let it rest for a few minutes, the gluten relaxes, and that allows you to roll out the dough some more.
When you say the dough was dense, do you mean before or after baking?
Pretzel dough is a fairly stiff (low hydration) dough, so it’s expected that it’s dense when you’re shaping it. If it’s too dense after baking, that means it didn’t rise enough – give it more time to rise before baking next time.
Let em rest 5-10 minutes if they start snapping at you while rolling but these look great!!!
Add a percentage of pastry flour or other low protein flour to help with extendibility.