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Pecan and Butter Pretzel Coffee Cake

A yeast-raised coffee cake of braided dough with butter slivers sealed inside, topped with chopped pecans.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Pecan and Butter Pretzel Coffee Cake

Oven350 degrees
Time30-35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. In cup, mix yeast, 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tsp. sugar and let yeast develop.

  2. Cream 1/2 lb. butter or 2 sticks butter, sugar, eggs in mixing bowl.

  3. Add warm milk and yeast mixture and beat well.

  4. Add 6 cups of flour along with the salt, nutmeg and cardamon till you have a soft dough.

  5. If it is too sticky, add the last cup of flour.

  6. Knead for 5 minutes.

  7. Cover and put in a warm place till double in size.

Shape the pretzels

  1. Divide dough into 4 sections, one for each pretzel.

  2. Take one section of dough and divide it into 3 equal strips.

  3. On floured surface stretch each strip of dough lengthwise to about 15 inches, using fingers.

  4. Cut one stick or 1/4 lb. chilled butter into 8 or 10 long narrow slivers of cold butter.

  5. Lay these slivers of butter on top of each of the three dough strips, about 3 slivers to a strip, using up all the butter in the stick.

  6. Using fingers, enclose the slivers of butter by wrapping the dough over the slivers, sealing the butter in the strips.

  7. Braid the 3 strips with the butter enclosed, gently and keeping it loose.

  8. Put the braided pretzel into a circle in an ungreased pan.

  9. Sprinkle over the top of the pretzel at least 1/4 of a cup of coarse chopped pecans.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until light brown. Do not let the pecans burn.

  2. While the pretzel is still warm, drizzle over almond sugar icing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
121 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the gluten structure that holds the dough together and lets it rise.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness; chilled slivers enclosed in the dough create flaky layers as it bakes.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Add richness and structure, helping bind the dough and give it a tender crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the dough and helps browning through its milk sugars.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the crumb.

The step that matters

Keep the butter cold and enclosed while shaping. Cold butter kept sealed inside the dough melts during baking and leaves steam pockets that create flaky layers. If the butter warms and softens or leaks out during braiding, the layers are lost and the dough becomes greasy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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