Soft Pretzels

Everyone has a favorite bar snack, the kind that makes you salivate just thinking about it. For me, that’s soft pretzels. The saltiness, the fluffiness, that melt in your mouth feeling. It’s all here in these delightful, yet simple soft pretzels.

Tips & Tricks

Careful with the baking soda mixture

Pretzels require being dipped in a baking soda and hot water (sometimes boiling water) mixture before baking. This gives them that characteristic shine.

But careful not to leave them in the baking soda solution for too long. 30 seconds is the max. Longer than this and your pretzels can taste metallic.

Other shapes

You can shape your pretzels into whatever shape you please.

Just know that if you decide to create larger pretzels, they may require more time in the oven.

What dips to use

Pretzels go wonderfully with honey mustard, other mustards, or beer cheese dips (also known as Bierretisch).

Ingredients:

(Makes 8 small to medium-sized pretzels)

  • 1 ½ cups warm water

  • 4 tsp active, dry yeast

  • ½ cup + 1 tsp pure cane sugar, divided

  • 4 - 5 cups all purpose flour

  • kosher salt

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

  • ½ cup baking soda

Directions:

In a large bowl, add the warm water, yeast, and 1 tsp of pure cane sugar. Let sit until the yeast is activated and the mixture looks foamy.

Start adding the flour one cup at a time, along with ½ cup of sugar, 1 ½ tsp kosher salt, and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Mix with a wooden spoon (*you can also do this in a standing mixer) adding enough flour to create a cohesive dough.

Once you do, knead on a floured board until the dough is smooth and satiny. It should just be a little sticky.

Let rise in a greased bowl for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper and greasing them with a little olive oil. (*If you don’t have parchment paper, grease the baking sheets a little more thoroughly).

Punch down your dough and divide it into 8 balls. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough between your hands and/or on a lightly floured surface until you have a long rope, about 12–18 inches long. pick up both ends of the rope and cross them over each other, as shown in the photos below. Twist the crossed ends around each other once or twice. Then, holding onto the twisted ends, lift them up and bring them down toward the bottom curve of the pretzel, pressing the ends gently into the dough to secure them.

Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Let the dough rest while you make the baking soda & water mixture.

Heat 4 cups of water with ½ cup of baking soda on the stove until boiling or almost boiling. Take off the heat.

Taking each pretzel dough one at a time, submerge the pretzel into the baking soda solution for at least 10 and up to 20 seconds. If you leave it in longer, this will change the taste of your pretzels for the worse.

Take out, let some of the water drip back into the baking soda solution, then place the pretzel on the prepared baking sheet. Top it off with some kosher salt.

Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.

Once you’ve completed the process, bake the pretzels in the oven for 8 minutes. Take out once the pretzels are golden or dark-golden on top and serve.