Pretzanella: A German Pretzel Salad

• 4 c (500 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 package (7 g) dry yeast
• 2.5 tablespoon (15 g) brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon (30 g) butter
• 2 teaspoon (10 g) salt
• 1.7 oz (50 ml/g) warm water
• 7.6 oz (225 ml/g) ice cold water
• About 3 oz (85 g) Maille Old Style mustard
• About 6 oz (170g g) grated Gouda cheese
• Sprinkle with: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, pretzel salt

For lye solution (best to use a kitchen scale to measure):

• 1000 ml (1000 g or 33.8 oz) water
• 40 g (1.41 oz) lye 

For salad:

• 2 hearts of romaine lettuce, roughly chopped 
• ⅓ head of white cabbage, thinly sliced
• ½ red onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced
• 2 fennel bulbs, ends trimmed 

For vinaigrette:

• ½ c good olive oil
• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Maille Old Style mustard
• 1 tablespoon apricot jam
• 1 shallot, peeled and small diced
• 1 teaspoon dried Herbs the Provence
• Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

1. To make your pretzel bread, combine brown sugar, dry yeast and warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes until the yeast starts to activate and bubble.
2. In a large bowl, combine sifted flour, salt,  room temperature butter (heat for a few seconds in microwave if too cold) with the yeast mixture. Then add ice cold water and knead for 8 to 10 minutes or until you achieve a smooth, elastic dough. 
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in size. You can also prepare the dough the night before and keep it in the fridge. 
4. When ready to start working with the dough, preheat your oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit or 220 degrees Celsius. 
5. On a flour dusted surface, roll out the dough to a rectangular shape and approximate proportions of 2 to 1. Cut into 4 strips length wise (I use a pizza cutter). 
6. In the middle of each strip, distribute some Maille Old Style mustard using a spoon. Top off with the grated Gouda cheese. Then brush water onto the dough surrounding the mustard-cheese and fold the dough over the filling, first sealing it (the water helps make it stick), then rolling it over itself to form four stuffed logs. 
7. Cross 2 stuffed logs half way, then start braiding the loaves and fold under at the end. 
8. Prepare your lye solution, making sure to follow the important guidelines I mentioned above. 
9. Carefully, wearing rubber gloves and using 2 utensils (ideally 2 steel skimmers, but I used a skimmer and a spatula), lift one of the loaves off the floured surface and submerge in the lye solution for about 10 seconds. Carefully remove the loaf with the utensils and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 22 minutes on the middle rack. Allow to cool before cubing for the salad. 
10. Cut the trimmed fennel bulbs in half, place on a sheet pan covered with some aluminum foil, sprinkle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
11. Toss all prepared vegetables in vinaigrette, arrange on a plate and place a half of each roasted fennel bulb on top, then top off with pretzel cubes. Guten Appetit!

More Pretzel Recipes:

• Pudding Pretzel: Yeast Pretzel With Homemade Pudding Center
• Pumpkin Pretzel: Savory Pretzel Made With Pumpkin And Pumpkin Seeds
• Martinsbrezeln: Sugar-Coated Pretzels That Are Very Popular For St. Martin's Day

Sponsored Content and Affiliate Links Disclosure

I received compensation from Maille in exchange for writing this post. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions, thoughts and recipes are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may be compensated if you click certain links.