OMG! That SAF Instant yeast works a bit too well!!! I made some pretzel logs over the weekend and they were the fattest things I've ever seen!
I ended up making 2 separate batches which actually were supposed to be one big batch. Here's the story.
I was supposed to make 16 pretzels. When it was time to proof the dough I used an oven trick I've been hearing about for some time now. You turn the oven on to its lowest setting then turn it off. Then you start making the dough. By the time the dough is ready for proofing you just put it in a bowl, cover it, and stick it in the turned off oven. The residual heat should keep it warm enough to create a good temp for rising. Now...some ovens can go down to 100°F while some go to 170°F. If yours goes to 170°F then you might want to open the door for about a minute only right after it beeps letting you know it has preheated. This should give you a warm enough oven but not too warm.
After an hour of proofing the dough was a bit more than double! LOL I gently deflated it and separated it in half. I placed both halves in 2 separate bowls. I covered one bowl while working on the other. I rolled 8 pretzel logs and put them in a baking soda bath for 30 secs per side. Then put them in the oven to bake. After I took them out I realized I had totally forgotten all about the 2nd batch! It had been sitting there the whole time and went into another rise!
So, I repeated the process for that batch. The first batch turned out nice but they were kind of big like I pumped some air into them. They still tasted pretty good! The 2nd batch were even bigger! And these were kind of shaped a bit strangely!!! But they tasted as good as the first batch!
Christina (my daughter) took pics of them. Whenever she sends them to me I'll post them. They look like "Frankenpretzels"!!!
