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Sourdough Pretzels

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raw vegan cultured Sourdough Pretzels displayed in a berry container

~ raw, vegan, gluten-free, cultured ~

This is not your typical sourdough recipe.  I use to own a sourdough starter–well, more like it owned me. But that was forever ago.  A typical recipe for creating your own starter contains yeast, warm water, all-purpose flour, and sugar.  It then takes 5-10 days to ferment and requires regular “feedings.”

My approach to creating a sourdough pretzel was to ferment the nut pulp. Goodness, if you are new to raw foods, I am sure that I have scared you away with the words ferment and nut pulp.  Stay put; I promise that you will find this recipe easy and tasty!   I borrowed the fermentation process from making nut “cheese”… probiotics!  I thought–why couldn’t I ferment some almond pulp?!  Well, I could and did!

If you are uncertain as to whether you like sourdough, or if you like it but often find it too strong in flavor, I ask that you give this recipe a try; it lets you control just how “sour” you want the dough to be.  The longer you allow it to ferment (culture, if the word ferment scares you) the stronger the sour flavor will be.

New to the idea of probiotics and wonder what they are? They are good bacteria that help to maintain the natural balance of organisms (microflora) in the intestines.  They are believed to protect us in two ways.

The first is the role that they play is in our digestive tract.  We know that our digestive tract needs a healthy balance between good and bad bacteria, so what gets in the way of this?  Poor food choices, emotional stress, lack of sleep, antibiotic overuse, other drugs, and environmental influences can all shift the balance of bacteria in our stomach.  I bet that you can’t find support for gut health in any processed pretzel on the market.

a close up of raw vegan cultured Sourdough Pretzels displayed in a berry containerIngredients:

Yields 5 cups dried 1″ pieces

Fermentation Stage:

Add after 24 hours fermenting:

Preparation:

Fermentation stage:

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the almond pulp, water, and probiotics.  Mix well and cover the bowl.
  2. Place the covered bowl in the dehydrator set at the lowest temperature. I did 95 degrees and let it sit for 24 hours to ferment.  Please taste test through this process.  Once it reaches the strength of “sourdoughness” you like, move on to the next steps.

Creating the pretzel:

  1. In a food processor, fitted with an “S” blade, pulse together the fermented almond pulp, ground flaxseed, and salt.
  2. Add almond butter, water, aminos, maple syrup, and vanilla.  Process until everything is well combined.
  3. Piping bag
    • You will need a disposable piping bag and a 1/2″ piping tip.
    • Once you have the tip in place, put the bag in a tall glass, and fold the edges over the glass.   This will create a stand that will make it easy to fill it with the batter.  I posted the photos below.
    • Fill the piping bag with batter (I had to refill the bag a second time).   Work all the air bubbles out of the bag so that it doesn’t “burp” while creating a line of dough.
    • Place a teflex sheet on the mesh sheet that comes with the dehydrator.
    • Hold the bag at a 22 1/2 degree angle (or 22!) and with a steady, consistent pressure, squeeze the batter out and slowly slide the bag down the teflex sheet.  Don’t go too fast and cause the line to break, and don’t go too slow causing the batter to create bulges.  You will quickly get the hang of it.  Create solid lines from one side of the tray to the other.  I have an Excalibur dehydrator that has large, square trays.
  4. Sprinkle coarse sea on top and lightly press it into the dough.  Because we are not using yeast, these pretzels won’t rise causing the dough to grab onto the salt, so we have to help it a little.
  5. Dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1 hour to set the “outer crust.”
    • Cut into 1″ pieces and now place them on the mesh sheet.
    • Continue drying at 115 degrees for 6-8 hours or until dry.  They do firm up a tad more once they cool.

Culinary Explanations:

  • Why do I start the dehydrator at 145 degrees (F)?  Click (here) to learn the reason behind this.
  • When working with fresh ingredients, it is important to taste test as you build a recipe.  Learn why (here).
  • Don’t own a dehydrator? Learn how to use your oven (here). I do however truly believe that it is a worthwhile investment. Click (here) to learn what I use.

6 thoughts on “Sourdough Pretzels

  1. Ludia says:

    I’ve got to try these! I just happen to have a cup of soaked almonds ready to make milk. I also have dehydrated almond pulp, so will experiment by re-hydrating it. At this point haven’t decided whether to mix the two, and make a whole recipe, or halve it and make two separate batches and compare. Hm, maybe the second.

    will keep you posted.

    Thanks for your always fresh and interesting ideas.

    • amie-sue says:

      Morning Ludia… Keep me posted how your experiment turns out. Rehydrating the nut pulp isn’t the same texture as fresh nut pulp but it might be worth a shot. Have fun, amie sue

      • Ludia says:

        Well, Ms. Amie Sue, you have done it again! You are a genius! A creative genius! A brilliant genius! :) What a inspired idea to turn almond pulp into pretzels! And they are delicious, and almost like their namesake. And better than their namesake in the sense that one does not feel that heaviness and slugishness afterwards. So thank you for opening my mind a little more. :)

        Now to what I did:
        My dried almond pulp didn’t taste so good, kinda stale, so didn’t use it after all..so, now I didn’t have 2 cups of fresh almond pulp, so I reduced the recipe, no prob.
        But that led to tinkering: Instead of vanilla, decided to go the sourdough pretzel route even further and used ground up carraway. Which then led to using cashew horseradish/mustard cheese (which I happened to have kicking around and which called to me – “me!, please!, use me!”, so I listened, LOL), and used it instead of the almond butter. And it is delish!! Thank you for the inspiration. Next time I am not going to listen to any cashew cheese and I will make your version, LOL.

        Making pretzels from almond pulp is the best, and inspired, use of the said almond pulp, IMHO. So thank you.

        • amie-sue says:

          Now Ludia…. you can send comments like that daily to me. hahaha Just teasing but gosh, thank you. What a real blessing to open up my emails and find such a wonderful comment. I am glad that you liked them. :) Your version sounds good too, haha But then I find it hard to really mess up a raw recipe. Adapt and play! Off to the kitchen I go, I hear it calling me. Have a wonderful weekend! amie sue

  2. Jacinte says:

    Tried it , love it, but I’m worried, I think it’s addictive., kept thinking about it. 😀😁😂
    Thanks for another grrreat recipe

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