Soft Pretzels
Homemade pretzels have been a new adventure and I am so happy I took the time to experiment with this new kitchen activity. I never knew how much I liked soft pretzels until I started making them at home. The dough does need time to rise, but from start to finish, you can have warm pretzels in your hands and belly in under two hours, I promise! My favorite part about making homemade pretzels is how you can get creative with how you will season them. Explore with herbs, spices or your favorite blends. One of my personal favorites is the everything bagel seasoning from Trader Joes. You can even get brave and stuff ingredients like cheese or pepperoni into your dough before baking! Feel free to shape, mold, or cut dough however you’d like to get the shape or nugget you desire.
Tips: Use warm water from the tap. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. That said, after melting your butter, if it is too hot, it is also not good for the yeast, so make sure to cool a little before adding it into the mixture.
*This recipe makes 6 pretzels.
Need pretzel salt? I buy mine from Amazon. Click the link below the purchase this fantastic pretzel salt.
Dough Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
2 ¼ tsp active yeast (or one packet)
1 tsp white sugar
1 tbsp melted butter, cooled
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil, for bowl
Boiling Ingredients:
6 cups of water
⅓ cup baking soda
Topping Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
Pretzel salt or other favorite seasonings
Instructions:
(If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a wooden spoon to mix and hands to knead dough for 5 minutes)
Using a stand mixer, combine 1 cup of warm water and sugar. Then sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
In the meantime, use oil to grease a large mixing bowl well. Also, melt your butter. Set both aside.
Once the yeast is ready, add flour, salt and butter to the bowl with the yeast mixture. Use hook attachment and mix on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Remove the hook attachment and begin to knead the dough into a ball. Transfer the ball of dough into the greased bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap and then a clean kitchen towel. Set aside somewhere warm for one hour, or until it doubles in size.
Once dough is ready, preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the meantime, place the dough on a work surface and cut into 6 even pieces. Roll out each piece into a long rope (about 20-24 inches). For a classic pretzel shape, form a U-shape and twist ends to form into your classic looking pretzel. Set aside and continue until all 6 pretzels are made.
In a large pot, bring 6 cups of water and baking soda to a rolling boil.
Use a slotted spoon to carefully place one to two pretzels at a time into the boiling water for 15-30 seconds max. Remove with the slotted spatula and place on the lined baking sheet. Continue until all pretzels have had their “bath.”
In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk and water together, then brush the top of each pretzel. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
For extra buttery flavor, remove from the oven and brush the tops of the pretzels with melted butter then bake for 1 more minute.
Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade