These soft pretzels are delicious! They are perfectly chewy and briny on the outside with sprinkles of coarse sea salt and tender and tasty in the inside with a butter enriched dough, just like a soft pretzel should be. I love them dipped in cheese sauce but if you are a mustard fan that’s delicious too!
Soft pretzels get their signature taste and texture from the cooking process. They get dropped into a pot of boiling baking soda and water solution for just a few seconds, enough to gelatinize the outside dough before they get baked at a high temperature in the oven.
Pretzels are similar to bagels in the way they are cooked, bagels get dunked in boiling water before being baked, giving them that chewy and irresistible texture too. With pretzels the addition of baking soda gives them that faux lye brine -bitter taste that balances so nicely with the course ground salt, this is the flavor we are all familiar with when it comes to pretzels.
These pretzels require 2 rises but despite the time they require the dough is not terribly complicated. It’s a simple dough with water, yeast, sugar, salt, melted butter and flour. The dough gets kneaded for a good 5-6 minutes with a mixer so it has great gluten development, which improves the dough’s texture on the insides.
These are a favorite at my house and my daughter loves to make them with me. They always disappear quickly by at my house.
What you need to make soft pretzels:
Makes 12 large pretzels
For the pretzel dough:
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
- 4 tablespoons salted butter – melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
For the brine:
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
For egg wash:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water and yeast and stir together.
- Add the sugar, salt and melted butter and stir.
- Add flour a cup at a time and mix after each cup, once dough starts to come together and isn’t overly sticky stop adding flour. The exact amount depends on a lot of different factors, from kitchen temps to measuring cups, so judge best you can if you need more or less flour.
- Knead dough together for 6 minutes if using a stand mixer with a dough hook, if kneading by hand then knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough feels a little like chewed bubblegum.
- Cover dough in bowl and let rise for 1 hour or until it’s nearly doubled in size.
- Gently press down dough and divide into 12 pieces.
- Roll each piece into a long skinny rope then twist the top two ends together then lay them back over the center of the loop, creating that signature pretzel shape.
- Grease a piece of plastic wrap and loosely cover the pretzels.
- Let rise for 30 minutes or until they are about double in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 F.
- Bring a pot of water with baking soda to a rolling boil.
- Gently lift up your risen pretzels and drop into the boiling water one at a time.
- Allow the pretzel to sit a max of 20 seconds per side. The longer it boils the stronger the baking soda flavor and too much will make your pretzels not taste as good.
- Gently remove the pretzels from the boiling water with a slotted spoon so most of the water drains off.
- Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Brush tops with egg wash then sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are brown.
- Enjoy on their own or with your favorite dipping sauce.
Here are a few other recipes you may love:
Overnight Bagels
Spiced Apple Bread
Butter Croissant Rolls
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
- 4 tablespoons salted butter – melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- For the brine:
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- For the egg wash:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
- coarse salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water and yeast and stir together.
- Add the sugar, salt and melted butter and stir.
- Add you flour a cup at a time and mix in after each cup, once dough starts to come together and isn’t overly sticky stop adding flour. The exact amount depends on a lot of different factors, from kitchen temps to measuring cups so judge best you can if you need more or less flour.
- Knead dough together for 6 minutes if using a stand mixer with a dough hook, if kneading by hand then knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough feels a little like chewed bubblegum.
- Cover dough in bowl and let rise for 1 hour or until it’s nearly doubled in size.
- Gently press down down and divide into 12 pieces.
- Roll each piece into a long skinny rope then twist the top two ends together then lay them back over the center of the loop, creating that signature shape.
- Grease a piece of plastic wrap and softly cover the pretzels, you don’t want them to be smashed by the plastic wrap so don’t secure the edges of the wrap.
- Let rise for 30 minutes or until they are about double in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 F.
- Bring a pot of water with baking soda to a rolling boil.
- Gently lift up your risen pretzels and drop into the boiling water.
- Allow the pretzel to sit a max of 20 seconds per side. The longer it boils the stronger the baking soda flavor and too much will make your pretzels not taste as good.
- Gently remove the pretzels from the boiling water with a slotted spoon so most of the water drains off.
- Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Brush tops with egg wash then sprinkle with course sea salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are brown.
- Enjoy on their own or with your favorite dipping sauce.