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Soft, pillowy pretzels buns are the stuff of legend. The secret? A bath in lye and baked in a wood-fired oven! Chef Britt shows you how to make the best pretzel buns for your next cookout!

Wood-Fired Pretzel Buns

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Yields: one dozen pretzel buns

Ingredients:

For the preferment (biga):

• 144 grams Antimo Caputo 00 Chef's Flour


• 94 grams water


• 3 grams Jacobsen Pure Kosher Sea Salt


• 1 pinch instant yeast

For the pretzel dough:

• 578 grams Antimo Caputo 00 Chef's Flour


• 340 grams water


• 12 grams Jacobsen Pure Kosher Sea Salt


• 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast


• 36 grams unsalted butter, softened


• 7 grams brown sugar


• 240 grams biga preferment

For Finishing:

• 1250 grams water 


• 50 grams Food-Grade Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)


• Jacobsen Pure Kosher Sea Salt or Noble Saltworks Hickory Smoked Salt, as needed

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Instructions:

To make the preferment:

• Mix your biga preferment directly in the container you wish to allow it to rise in overnight. In this case, a quart-sized container works very well.


• Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water the flour is fully hydrated (no dry patches).


• Allow the biga preferment to sit, covered, for 12-16 hours before mixing the final pretzel dough.

To mix the final pretzel dough:

• Set up your electric stand mixer for bread mixing: dough hook for a Kitchenaid and dough roller & scraper attachments for an Ankarsrum.


• In this order: place water, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and butter into the mixer and allow to mix on low speed for 3 minutes, until the ingredients have incorporated.


• Follow with the biga preferment, breaking it up into smaller chunks before adding it to the mixture. Mix on low speed for another 5 minutes.


• Allow the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. During this time, begin to build your fire in your wood-fired oven.


• Remove it from the bowl and fold it to degas. Return it to the bowl, cover, and let it rise one more hour.

To scale/shape/finish the dough:

• Using a scale, weigh out the dough into 100-gram portions. Round out the portions into balls.


• Place the dough balls evenly onto a lined 18"x 13" sheet pan.


• Place the dough into the fridge to set up for at least 30 minutes before handling further.


• Use this time to prepare your prep area for the lye bath. Lye is highly caustic, and necessary precautions must be taken to prevent the material to eat through metal and porous surfaces. In the video, Chef Britt uses a FrogMat over a plastic-lined sheet pan to transfer her lye-dipped pretzels to the Clementi wood-fired oven.

To finish/bake the pretzels:

• Create your lye solution by dissolving your sodium hydroxide (food-grade lye) into water that is placed in a glass bowl or other non-reactive container.


• Using a nitrile-gloved hand, dip each bun into the lye solution, then transfer to a non-reactive surface (reference video).


• Sprinkle the amount of salt preferred over the tops of the dipped buns.


• Create the scores on the tops of the bun by cutting an X-shape (about 3/4-inch deep) using a pair of scissors.


• Immediately bake on the wood-fired oven, with the deck's temperature reading 450-500°F. Allow to bake for 7-9 minutes, or until browned, turning as needed.

These pretzel buns are incredibly soft and pillowy, with that perfect deeply-flavored crust and made special with incredible salt. It pairs especially well with Chef Britt's Pub Cheese Recipe.

 

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The Chicken Guacamole Burger may be made of ground chicken thighs, and not ground beef, but it's as good or BETTER than any other burger out there! From the juicy patty to the funky feta and the homemade guac and ranch dressing, this burger has it all!

Chicken Guacamole Burger

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8 burgers

Ingredients

For the burger:

• 8 Everything Bagel Brioche Buns


• Butter lettuce


• Tomato slices


• 8 chicken burger patties (recipe below)


• Guacamole (recipe below)


• Ranch dressing (from scratch recipe here)

For the burger patties:

• 2 cups fresh bread crumbs (6 sandwich slices)


• 2 1/2 lb chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, 2” dice


• 1/2 cup feta cheese


• 2 tbsp Olitalia Meat Extra Virgin Olive Oil


• 2 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Everything Bagel Seasoning


• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

For the guacamole:

• 2 small avocados


• 3 tbsp Holmes Made Marty’s Roasted Green Chile Medium Salsa


• 3 tbsp cilantro, minced


• 1 tbsp lime juice


• Noble Saltworks Hickory Smoked Finishing Salt, to taste

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Instructions

To make the burger patties, first tear up the slices of bread and place in a food processor, working in batches, if needed, so as not to overcrowd. Blitz the bread until it is broken down into bread crumbs. Remove from the food processor.

Next, mince the chicken in the food processor. Once again, working in batches, place the cubed thighs in the food processor and blitz until broken down to a ground meat consistency. Remove from the food processor.

Combine the fresh bread crumbs, minced chicken and remaining burger patty ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix by hand until well incorporated. Divide into 8 equal sized patties and place in the refrigerator.

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill to 400ºF, with the diffuser (or diffuser door) removed and a Yoder Smokers Cast Iron Griddle installed over the fire box.

While the grill and griddle are preheating, make the guacamole. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash with a fork to desired consistency. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

When the griddle is hot, place your burgers on the griddle and press to desired width. You want the burger to fit the bun, so take a look at your bun to determine the width. Let the burger form a brown crust before flipping to brown the opposite side. Continue cooking the burgers until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF in the center, moving them to indirect heat (off the griddle) to finish cooking, if needed.

Toast the burger buns on the griddle until golden brown.

To build the Chicken Guacamole Burger, start with a leaf of butter lettuce and slice of tomato on the bottom bun. Place your chicken burger patty on the tomato. Top the patty with guacamole and a drizzle of buttermilk ranch, and finally the top bun.