Todd Wilbur, the master of fast food replication, is back, and accompanying him are 37 new recipes. More Top Secret Recipes follows triumphantly in the footsteps of his first tryout with kitchen clones, Top Secret Recipes. Included in this new collection are recipes that fans steadfastly demanded--including A&W Root Beer and an easy concoction for creating the perfect Oreo in less than an hour.
Gerry Shreiber, a college dropout, wasn't happy with the metal-working business he had been operating for about seven years with a friend, so the two decided to sellout. Shreiber's take was about $60,000, but he needed a new job. By chance one day, he wandered into a Philadelphia waterbed store and struck up a conversation with an investor in a troubled soft pretzel company. After touring the rundown plant, Shreiber thought he could turn the company around, so he put his money to work and bought J&J Soft Pretzels for $72,100. That was in 1971. At the time, J&J had at least ten competitors in the soft pretzel business, but over the years Shreiber devised a strategy that would eliminate this competition and help his company grow-he simply bought most of them out.
Today J&J Super Pretzels are uncontested in the frozen soft pretzel market, and they currently constitute about 70 percent of the soft pretzels that are sold in the country's malls, convenience stores, amusement parks, stadiums, and movie theaters.
Makes 10 Pretzels
One 1/4-ounce package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 110 degrees)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter; softened
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups cold water
1/3 cup baking soda
Coarse pretzel salt (such as kosher salt)
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large bowl.
Add 2 cups of the flour and beat until smooth.
Add the corn syrup, butter, and salt, and mix well about 2 minutes.
Add the remaining flour and knead with your hands until all the flour is worked into the dough.
Cover the bowl and set the dough in a warm, cozy place where it can ponder the meaning of "Rise, you gooey glob!" Allow the dough to double in size, from 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 10 equal pieces.
With your hands, roll each piece of dough out on a flat surface until it's about 2 feet long.
Holding the dough at both ends, give each strip of dough a twist. Lay the twists well spaced on greased cookie sheets (refer to the illustration for design specifics). Let these rise for another 30 to 45 minutes.
When the dough has nearly doubled again, combine the cold water and baking soda in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. This will be your browning solution (a.k.a. caustic bath).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Drop each pretzel, one at a time, into the boiling solution. Soak each pretzel for 1 minute, carefully turning after 30 seconds. Return to the cookie sheets.
Bake the pretzels for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Eat the pretzels hot or allow them to cool and freeze them. If you want salt, lightly moisten the surface of the pretzel with a pastry brush and apply a generous sprinkling of coarse salt.
Frozen pretzels can be reheated in a microwave set on high for about 30 seconds.
