Customer: Where'd you get your ideas from, Mr. Kowalski?
Jacob Kowalski: I don't know. I don't know. They just come. Here you go. Don't forget this. Enjoy.
Of course, these weren't just any imagined creatures - they were, in fact, based off of Newt's amazing beasts - including the Occamy, Demiguise, Erumpet and the Niffler!!!
Now, of course these baked goods are just props - but with a little bit of creativity you can make your own at home!
I couldn't use a traditional pretzel recipe for this bread - because it was impossible to hold the shape during the whole cooking process - but this one is pretty close! (Note: it probably won't get quite as dark as the movie pretzels because that would mean it's getting very burnt!)
Occamy Pretzel's from Jacob's Bakery
(Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them)
serves: makes about 6 Occamy's.
Ingredients:
1 cup of water
¼ cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs (1 is for the egg wash)
120g of unsalted butter
2 Tbsp milk
5 cups of plain flour
A pinch of fine salt
Coarse salt (to decorate) - I ran out the day before so I sprinkled fine salt over mine
Method:
Preheat your oven to 130°C and line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Prepare some mini cake pans (I used mini bundt cake pans because of the tapered sides which allowed me to shape my Occamy's head - just find whatever works for you!) by buttering or oiling the sides you plan to use.
Mix together the flour, pinch of salt and granulated sugar until fully combined.
In a separate (larger) bowl, whisk together the water, 1 egg, melted butter and milk. Once fully mixed, add in the dry ingredients in batches (about six), until the dough forms. Leave it to rest for about half an hour in the bowl covered with a dry tea towel.
Divide the dough into six equal sized pieces. Each piece will become one Occamy. I have included reference pictures to show how I formed the Occamy shape - but it's actually fairly easy to do!
Divide one Occamy ball into three equal pieces. Roll out the first piece into a long, thin rope about 1 cm in diameter. We want to form this into a large figure eight, tucking the ends together beneath the middle intersection.
With the second ball, tear a large pinch off and add it to the last piece. Roll the now slightly smaller ball into a long thin rope the same width as the first rope. Pass it under the intersection of the figure eight we made before, leaving a considerable amount sticking out for the tail - and prop up the neck and head on the other end using the prepared mini cake pan.
Tear two thirds off of the last unused piece of dough - and roll it into a long rope a little bit thinner than the two we rolled in steps 5 and 6. This is going to be the Occamy's wings. We make this by creating a long, thin figure eight and pressing the intersection down over the base of the Occamy's neck.
The remaining bit of dough needs to be divided up into three different pieces, one smallest, one medium and one largest - and then rolled out and halved to be attached to the tail as the feathery ends. Make sure everything is all pressed down firmly and attached.
Brush the egg wash over the Occamy's, and sprinkle the coarse salt over them - as much as you would like (the dough isn't particularly salty or flavoured so I reccommend giving each pretzel a good pinch. Bake for about 1 hour, or until nice and darkish golden along the neck and tail of the Occamy.
Rest for a little while before eating (and take a thousand pictures of your adorable Occamy's! You won't be able to resist!)
Enjoy!
These are the in progress shots I got:
Base structure of the Occamy
Finished Skeleton (pre- Eggs Wash)
These Occamy's look so good! I'm seriously tempted to open up my own bakery just so I can make these every day!
(And they're pretty tasty too!)
As always, I'd love to see your own creations - so please tag me if you have some pictures!
If you have any queries, comments or requests for future themed recipes please don't hesitate to send them my way - I'll do my best to respond promptly!
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I'll see you next time!
~ FlitterPuff
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