Sourdough Pretzels

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~ 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.

Ingredients:

Yields 5 cups dried 1″ pieces

Fermentation Stage:

• 2 cups packed moist almond pulp
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp probiotics emptied from capsules

• 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 5 tsp coconut aminos
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water

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.

Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, sugar free