The moment I saw this recipe, I knew I needed to make these. They require a bit of work, but are worth the effort – they are delicious! This was my first time making soft pretzels, so I took and posted many more photos than I normally would – I hope you find them helpful.
Makes 1 dozen
Ingredients
- warm water
- 2 (1/4-oz.) packages rapid-rise yeast
- 3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
- 6 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
- 4 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
- nonstick cooking spray
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup pale ale-style beer
- pretzel salt
Directions
In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups warm water, yeast and 1/2 cup of brown sugar; let stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.
let the warm water, yeast and brown sugar stand until foamy
In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together flour and coarse salt using your hands. Add butter and continue to mix with your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Add yeast mixture and, using your hands, mix until a shaggy dough is formed and water is absorbed.
mix until a shaggy dough is formed
Using the dough hook attachment, mix dough on medium speed until dough is tight, elastic, and smooth – about 6 to 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator; let chill at least 8 hours and up to overnight.
mix until dough is tight, elastic and smooth
Preheat the oven to 450° F.
Roll the dough out into a 14-by-12 inch rectangle. Cut dough into one dozen 12-inch-long-strips, each about 1-inch wide. Transfer to a large baking sheet and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for 15 minutes.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out each piece into a 25-30 inch rope (about 3/4-inch thick), starting from the center and working toward the ends. Make a “U” shape with the rope and cross the ends over, pinching at the bottom of the ‘U” to form a pretzel. Return to the baking sheet and repeat process with remaining dough.
Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large saucepan, combine 8 cups water, baking soda, beer and remaining 1/4 cup dark-brown sugar; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer pretzels, one at a time, until the pretzel floats, about 30 seconds; transfer to the prepared baking sheet using a spatula. Repeat the process with remaining pretzels.
use a slotted spatula to retrieve the pretzel from the saucepan
Sprinkle pretzels with pretzel salt (I only salted a few of them); transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Rotate baking sheet and continue baking until pretzels turn golden or chestnut brown in color, 4 to 6 minutes more.
add salt prior to placing in the oven
Remove from baking sheet and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm with butter or mustard.
original recipe from Sigmund Pretzelshop
Love soft pretzels and this recipe really looks do-able. Great post and pictures!
i always hated those hard dry pretzels but a couple of years ago my kiddo wanted to try this ‘soft pretzel’ something i never heard of. i got one and was surprised. it was so good, moist, lightly sweet. i thought of making my own and now i can. thanks
I’ve tried to make soft pretzels at home before and it turned into a big mess. These look pretty simple compared to then. I might have to try it again!
You are such a neat baker. My kitchen always looks as if something has exploded. If I’m baking it would be the flour truck that had exploded.
I never even thought about making my own pretzel. No I understand this is something I shouldn’t miss! I’ll try it soon and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Great – definitely let me know how they turn out!
Nice, simple looking recipe, something I look forward to trying out. I’m wondering about substituting some whole wheat flour…definitely a recipe that I’d love to experiment with!
Thank you! I have seen recipes that substitute whole wheat flour – I thought about doing that myself. Let me know how yours turns out!
Oh wow.. these soft pretzels look fantastic! My favorite!!
Looks like good, clean, fun…I might just HAVE to try!
I made this recipe substituting half the flour for whole wheat, and threw in some ground flax seed. They turned out good, but way too salty for my taste, and I didn’t even salt the pretzels before baking them. Next time, I think I’ll use half the salt, if that. Would reducing the salt affect the recipe itself?
Oh, on some of them I brushed a melted butter/cinnamon/sugar mixture…yum! The sweetness helped to tone down the salt.
I’m glad you tried the pretzels! Yes, you can reduce the amount of salt and it will not impact the recipe. I didn’t salt many of my pretzels because I felt that the dough had enough salt to give the same effect. Let me know how they turn out!
This is a great recipe!!! Tried them with whole wheat bread flour rather than the regular, unbleached bread flour and would definitely recommend cutting the whole wheat with some of the regular. The pretzels were delicious but a lot heavier than what yours turned out to be. Trying them again next weekend with a mix of flour!