BINGLEY: Mr. Kowalski –
JACOB: – You gotta try the pack, okay, it’s my grandmother’s recipe, the orange zest -just-
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year! I took a little break from posting but I’m so excited for a new beginning. I always get a case of the holiday blues… I never want Christmas to end!
The first recipe for 2017, is actually a series of recipes inspired by Jacob Kowalski’s pastry suitcase from the movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There are so many amazing scenes in the movie but I’m pretty certain I wasn’t the only person who gasped when Jacob Kowalski opened his suitcase and revealed six amazing pastries. While he only mentioned one item to the banker (paczki) in the movie, we were given some idea of his favorite baked goods in the book, The Case of Beasts – Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In it, they mentioned that Kowalski had many recipes passed down to home from his grandmother and pretzels were one of them. I’ll be posting more recipes from this series in the new few days.
This recipe for pretzels is incredibly easy and it’s so delicious. I easily ate three of these when it came out of the oven and I’m really excited to make more soon. In the recipe, I state that you need 5 cups of water to poach the pretzels but honestly just use enough water to your pot so the pretzels have room to float. The amount of water will vary depending on the size and shape of your pan. I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do!
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Kowalski's Pastry Suitcase
Ingredients
- 1 tsp - instant yeast
- 1/4 cup / 2oz / 57g - honey
- 1 tsp - salt
- 3 cups / 16.5oz / 468g - bread flour
- 1 cup / 8oz / 226g - warm water 110F
- 2 tbsp - baking soda
- 5 cups - water
- 2 tsp - coarse salt
Instructions
- Combine the yeast, salt, and flour together in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- Add 1 cup of warm water and honey. Mix on medium speed until it forms a smooth ball of dough, around 8 minutes.
- Cover and let it rise in a warm area for one hour or until doubled in size. Gently degas the dough and let it rest again for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450F. In a saucepan, combine the water and baking soda and bring it to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, place the dough in a lightly floured surface and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 20" long rope and shape each piece into a pretzel. Create a U shape in the middle by holding the two ends. Twist the ropes two times in the middle and bring the ends back down towards the U base. Press down gently to seal the ends. Repeat with the rest of the pieces.
- Place the shaped pretzels in the boiling water. Let it cook on each side for 30 seconds. Transfer each piece onto a lightly greased sheet pan and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
[…] The second recipe for Jacob Kowalski’s pastry series is makowiec or poppy seed roll. The inspiration for this recipe again came from the book, The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This was part of the recipe book that Jacob Kowalski inherited from his grandmother. Click on this link to find the first recipe of the series, soft pretzels. […]