Savory Pretzel Gugelhupf (Brezel-Gugelhupf)

As The Cottage Cooking Club gears up to finish the last three months worth of recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall´s amazing vegetable cookbook „River Cottage Everyday Veg“, the next project for this international online cooking group is already well on its way. On 1st May, 2016, we will continue our cooking adventure together - with two books from the same author. The first book is called "River Cottage Every Day". In this book Hugh "brings his trademark wit and infectious exuberance for locally grown and raised foods to a wide-ranging selection of appealing, everyday dishes from healthy breakfasts, hearty breads, and quick lunches to all manner of weeknight dinners and enticing desserts". The second book is called "Love Your Leftovers" - in this cookbook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall offers "nifty and creative ideas to transform leftovers into irresistible meals".

“Some of the most satisfying meals of my life have been created, seemingly, from almost nothing,” writes Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in his new book, Love Your Leftovers. „It’s those seat-of-the-pants, spur-of-the-moment dishes, rustled up from odds and ends loitering in the fridge or cupboards, that often bring me the greatest pleasure.” (THE TIMES Magazine, 26 Sep., 2015)

In the spirit of „loving my leftovers“ and to convince my trusted taste testers that this is a worthwhile and tasty project, I prepared a Savory Pretzel Gugelhupf (Brezel-Gugelhupf) on the weekend. This recipe calls for four leftover, day-old, Pretzels. Around here, Pretzel or "Brezel" as we call them in German, are readily available at just about every bakery. But you can also easily make them at home and put aside four of them the day before you plan on making this particular dish. It is worth it, trust us. Since I am known to be unable to resist freshly baked Pretzels on display at my favorite bakery, or to bake way more than we can eat in one day, this recipe came in very handy yesterday and will be repeated many times in the future.

Savory Pretzel Gugelhupf (Brezel-Gugelhupf)

Ingredients

• 4 day-old Pretzel (preferably homemade but the ones from your favorite bakery are perfectly fine)
• 150 ml milk (3.5%), warm to the touch
• 250 grams mild white onion, finely diced (about 4 smallish onions)
• 80 grams butter, unsalted plus a bit to butter your mold or baking pan
• 3 tbsps Italian parsley, washed, dried and finely chopped
• 1 tsps chives, washed, dried and finely chopped
• 4 eggs (M), organic or free range, separated
• some fine sea salt
• some black pepper, freshly ground
• some nutmeg, freshly ground
• some breadcrumbs or flour for the mold or baking pan (use whichever one you prefer)

In addition

• one smallish Gugelhupf or Bundt pan or pudding mold (for steamed pudding) with a 1 (one ) liter capacity

Preparation

1. On a wooden cutting board, using a serrated knife, cut the Pretzel into slices or small cubes. Place in a medium bowl and add the warm milk to the bowl. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan heat the butter, add the finely minced onions and fry on medium heat until the onions are light golden (about 10 to 15 minutes). Take the pan off the heat, add the parsley and chives and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Add the egg yolks and the onion mixture to the soaked Pretzel mixture. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir well. Let sit on your kitchen counter for about 10 minutes (for all the ingredients to soften).
4. Pre-heat your oven to 175° C (345° F).
5. Using your hand-held mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff and then fold them into them into the softed Pretzel mixture.
6. Butter and flour your mold well, shake off any excess - NOTE:  I prefer to use breadcrumbs here, as I do not mind the extra "crunchiness" that the baked breadcrumbs might add to the outside of this baked dish
7. Add the Pretzel mixture to your mold and bang the mold on your work surface a few times to get rid of any air bubbles that might be in the mixture.
8. Place your filled Bundt, Gugelhupf or pudding mold in a baking pan (with high sides) and add hot water to your pan until it reaches 2/3 up the sides of your mold (like a bain marie).
9. Bake in the oven for about 45 to 50 minutes.
10. Carefully take the Gugelhupf out of the water bath, dry off the outside of the mold with a kitchen towel. Once the Gugelhupf is cool enough to handle, turn it upside down and release the baked Pretzel Gugelhupf onto a nice serving platter and serve straight away (while still nice and warm). NOTE: to serve, you should cut it into nice hefty slices using a serrated knife.

This recipe is meant as an in spiration to all of you out there looking for some delicious things to prepare with your leftovers. It is truly a wonderful recipe that is rather tasty on its own or served with a bit of leftover warm gravy. The taste of the Savory Pretzel Gugelhupf (Brezel Gugelhupf) is reminiscent of Bavarian Bread Dumplings, a true treat.

So go ahead "Love Your Leftovers"and get creative with them and better yet, join us in this cooking adventure starting on 1st May, 2016 - for more information, refer to the The Cottage Cooking Club site (here) or feel free to contact me.