Salty-sweet orange & tahini pretzels

Makes 8 pretzels

Our chef Juice is a man of great contrasts: he has a Masters in History but left academia for the kitchen, and is doing really well in ours. A big tall guy—charismatic, forceful, creative—his gentler side is most obvious in his cooking. We are always surprised when we look at the pretty, delicate plates he sends out. How can these massive sausage fingers have such a lightness of touch? Probably his piano playing helps, and also his fiancée’s catchphrase: “A little less ogre, a little more finesse.” These pretzels require a bit of dexterity, but they are quite easy to make even if you don’t have piano training. If you do find making the pretzels too taxing on your fingers, just roll them into sticks—they will taste just as good.

200g bread flour

150g all-purpose flour

½ tsp table salt

40g confectioners’ sugar

140g/ml milk

50g fresh yeast or 4½ tsp dried yeast

zest of 1 orange

50g date molasses or a strong dark honey (e.g. chestnut)

80g tahini paste

50g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

For the tops

egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with a pinch of sugar)

flaky sea salt to sprinkle

To dip (if you like)

3 tbsp tahini paste

3 tbsp date molasses

Put the flours, salt and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. You can use a mixer with a dough hook attachment, but it is just as easy to work this by hand.

Warm the milk to blood temperature (i.e. when you touch it it feels just right, not hot or cold), add the yeast, orange zest and molasses and stir to dissolve. Add the liquid to the flour and knead together to form a ball. Slowly mix in the tahini and then the butter until everything has been incorporated into the dough. Cover the bowl and allow to rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

Line two trays with baking parchment. Place the dough on an unfloured work surface and divide into eight pieces of about 90g each. Roll a piece into a snake about 16 inches long. Take one end of the dough snake in each hand and lift them towards you and off the surface a little, leaving the rest in a half-moon on the table. Twist the dough strands around each other about 1½ inches from the ends. Lower the dough to the table again so that the ends sit on the half-moon, with the twisted section in the center of the pretzel. Press gently to attach the ends to the half-moon and carefully lift the pretzel. Flip it onto one of the baking sheets so the ends of the dough are on the underside. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. By the eighth one, you should know exactly what you are doing (and don’t worry, as the ugly ones will taste just as nice as the pretty ones). Allow about 1 inch between each pretzel—they won’t grow too much—and leave to double in size for about 1½ hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°F/400°F convection. Brush the pretzels with the egg wash, then sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake for 10–12 minutes until they have a dark golden brown crust. They are delicious just as they are, but if you fancy a treat, serve them with a dish of tahini paste mixed with an equal amount of date molasses.