The soft pretzel in Manhattan is ubiquitous. While in the city yesterday, I must have passed four or five carts selling among other foods, pretzels, and we weren’t even in a touristy part of town.
Westchester? Different story. In fact, a Google search for soft pretzels in Westchester turned up a big fat goose egg. There has to be some place around here that sells them, doesn’t there?
I turned to Connecticut, and the one bakery I know of that bakes pretzels (only on Saturdays): Black Forest Pastry Shop in Greenwich.
The cakes and pastries here look amazing, they really do. But that vaunted pretzel, written up in publications like Westchester Magazine? I was a little underwhelmed.
The taste was good and there was the right amount of salt. But I was expecting the pretzel to be warm. It wasn’t. More disappointing, mine was decidedly on the semi-stale side. Perhaps the thing to do is get there early in the morning when the pretzels are fresh out of the oven?
A few weeks ago, my sister whipped up a batch of homemade soft pretzels — nothing against Black Forest Pastry shop, but hers were better.
I need to get that recipe.
Black Forest Pastry Shop
52 Lewis St.
Greenwich, CT
203-629-9330
2 Comments
Here’s the recipe I used that night. Note that he uses 3/4 C of baking soda for the water bath – that’s a huge amount to add. I think I may have used 1/2 C instead. Make sure you have a BIG pot for the water and add the baking soda maybe 1/4 C at a time. It fizzes up instantly and will probably if you add 3/4 C all at once.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/soft-pretzels-with-queso-poblano-sauce-and-mustard-sauce-recipe/index.html
Ooh, a Throwdown recipe! I like it. Thanks!