Oh, the smell of a freshly baked pretzel! You know, when you go to the mall and walked by Auntie Anne’s… the smell of those pretzels is like a magnet. Well, if I am being honest I haven’t been to the mall in years and guess what? I have one less reason to go, I can make Soft Pretzels at home! who knew??
I made these pretzels thinking about my oldest girl, she looooves pretzels. Ever since she was a little baby they are her favorite snack of all time. She was trilled when she saw them coming out of the oven.
Pretzels are fairly easy to make, don’t let them intimidate you. I think the hardest thing, if anything at all is to achieve the perfect pretzel shape. I mean, who is looking for perfection anyway? These are homemade pretzels, they are incredibly amazing not perfect.
Does anybody go to the mall anymore?
These pretzels were inspired by Alton Brown’s Soft Pretzels recipe.
Find the full recipe below.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (110 to 115F)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (1 package)
- 4 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 10 cups of water
- 2/3 cups baking soda
- 1 egg yolk
- pretzel salt
Instructions
- Add the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer and dissolve the sugar and salt in the water. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it set for 5 minutes until the mixture begins to foam.
- Add the flour and butter and mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment.
- Change the speed to medium and knead the dough for about 4 to 5 minutes until smooth and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Rub a clean bowl with oil and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 450 Degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large sauce pan, bring 2.5 quarts of water and baking soda to a rolling boil.
- While the water reaches its boiling point turn the dough out on slightly oiled flat surface and divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a 24″ rope. Make a U shape with the rope and holding the ends, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U. You have a pretzel!
- Place each pretzel onto the sheet pan.
- Gently drop the pretzels (one or two at a time) into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Use a large spatula to remove from the water and transfer back to the sheet pan.
- In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the top of the pretzels. Sprinkle with pretzel salt.
- Bake until golden brown for about 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
