New Year's marzipan pretzel à la Didi

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 bag(s) of dry yeast
• 500 g wheat flour type 405
• 250 ml milk, lukewarm
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50 g sugar
• 1 bag of vanilla sugar
• 80 g butter
• 1 m.-sized egg(s)
• 200 g marzipan paste
• 1 bottle of bitter almond flavor
• 3 m.-large egg whites
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 medium-sized egg yolks
• 3 tbsp milk
• 9 tbsp powdered sugar
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 5 minutes

For the pre-dough, put the flour in a bowl. Make a deep well in the bowl and pour in the lukewarm milk. Add the yeast and mix with a little flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Add the salt, vanilla sugar, sugar, melted butter, egg, and remaining flour. Knead everything into a dough until the dough pulls away from the base and bubbles. Cover the yeast dough and let rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix the marzipan mixture with the egg whites, sugar, and bitter almond flavoring. Divide the yeast dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each part out into a long rectangle. Spread the marzipan mixture on top, leaving a border of at least 2 cm all around. Roll up the rectangles from the long side. Twist the strands together. Shape the twisted strand into a pretzel. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and let the pretzel rise on the baking sheet for another 30 minutes. Mix the egg yolks with the milk and brush the pretzel with it. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (fan oven) on the second rack from the bottom for about 35 minutes. After 15 minutes, cover with aluminum foil to prevent the pretzel from overcooking. Mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice and brush the pretzel with it while it’s still hot. Finally, sprinkle the finished pretzel with sugar. Let cool.