I have vivid memories from my childhood of running errands with my Mom, often at Bellevue Square Mall (oh how I miss that mall!) in my hometown. It seems like we were always there doing something or other and even with my toddler-sized memories I can still recall the exact section of the parking garage we always parked in. I think it had less to do with the layout of the stores we were going to and more to do with the fact that it was the closest entrance to Mrs. Field’s Cookies. I can’t remember a single mall trip when we didn’t take a break for either a cookie (we both always chose White Chocolate Macadamia Nut) or a Cinnabon Cinnamon roll (always with extra frosting!) Taking my own children to the mall with me is something I try to avoid at all costs, but sometimes it’s inevitable. And when I do, we always stop for a treat. Partly for nostalgia purposes and partly to keep their little hands and minds occupied in the stroller for more than 4 minutes so I can walk them into a store without them destroying it. Mrs. Fields is a regular on our route, until recently when my kids discovered the pretzel shop. And of course I’m super smart and let their first discovery of the soft and chewy carb dream be bite-sized ones covered in gobs of cinnamon sugar so now that’s the only kind they want. Which means they’re covered in gobs of cinnamon sugar. Any sane person would stop that habit right away, but not me. Because I like to steal their pretzels. My husband suggested we make them at home, so here we are.
These actually require very few ingredients and the payoff is huge. It’s a perfect weekend baking project, so have fun! Start by combining warm water, yeast, some sugar, and some salt in a bowl and let it sit until it gets foamy. Remember, if your yeast doesn’t foam- it’s better to start over now, then ruin a whole batch of pretzels!
When the yeast is ready, add some all-purpose flour and melted butter.
That’s all! You’ll mix and knead and then let the dough rise until it’s nice and puffed.
Now you have a few options. Obviously you can make traditional pretzels. Creating a pretzel shape isn’t complicated,
but don’t feel bad if it takes a few tries to get it right. I should post a photo of my out-takes, they were sort of hilarious. I kept my dough possibly a little too soft which made it hard to shape! Don’t worry though, they don’t have to be pretty to taste amazing. I’ll show you another shaping option down below.
One step I admit I’ve skipped in the past is the boiling step. Traditionally pretzels are given a quick boil in baking soda water, and it might sound like a hassle that you just want to skip over. I’ve changed my ways after realizing that boiling step is what gives the pretzels not only their signature flavor, but also that perfect chew. It doesn’t take long at all to fill up a pot of water and bring it to a boil, so don’t skip that step (you know, like I apparently skipped the pictures of it…)
The pretzels go straight from the water to a baking sheet where you can give them a little brush of egg wash and, if you’re going to leave them plain, a sprinkle of salt. After they cook up golden brown I like to brush them with melted butter.
annnnd then dump them in a big bowl of cinnamon-sugar.
Holy smokes these are good.
You must, must eat at least one (and possibly all) while they’re still warm. The outsides have that slightly tangy chew and the insides are so tender and soft. Perfection.
Now. All that being said, I very rarely make these in big pretzel shapes. At my house we make pretzel bites. They’re quicker, easier, and more fun to eat. Instead of forming those ropes into pretzels, just slice them into 1-2 inch pieces. Follow the same baking process and then make a “dip” (aka frosting) for dunking.
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (110–115 degrees F)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 package active dry yeast (I used rapid rise yeast)
- 22 oz all-purpose flour, about 4 1/2 cups
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil for pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- optional: additional melted butter and cinnamon-sugar
- optional: powdered sugar, milk, melted butter for dipping
Instructions
- Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour (tip: don’t add all the flour at once, just in case you don’t need it all. Reserve a small amount and add as needed for a soft dough) and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, scrape the bowl clean and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
- Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan (non-aluminum pot.)
- In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
- Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. If you’re making pretzel “bites” put in as many as will fit without crowding. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula (a metal spider works great). Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with pretzel salt or kosher salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Cinnamon Sugar Version: Prepare as directed but don’t sprinkle with salt before baking. Immediately after removing pretzels from oven, brush with melted butter and toss in a bowl of cinnamon-sugar.
- Cinnamon Sugar Dippers: Instead of shaping pretzels into the traditional shape, roll dough into ropes and cut into 1-2 inch pieces. Continue preparing as recipe instructs, brushing with butter immediately after removing from oven and tossing in cinnamon sugar. Create a dipping glaze by mixing about a cup of powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons melted butter and then add milk as needed, whisking until smooth. Serve warm.
Wow, this looks just like Alton Brown’s recipe, so I bet they’ll be good!
Perfection! No additional words needed…
Do you bake the bites for the same amount of time as the regular-sized pretzels?
My wonderful roommate just made some of these for me at my mom’s house and we are enjoying every bite. They are delicious! We really wish there would have been a warning about what kind of pot to/not to use. We used an aluminum pan of my mom’s and it’s completely destroyed. Those were some expensive pretzel bites! It might be helpful to include that tip!
I guess I’ve never used an aluminum pot! That’s a great tip, I’ll include it!
Can you store the dough in the fridge over night ?
I’m not sure, yeast doughs are tricky and I’ve never tried storing it overnight, sorry!
These were great! Thank you!
I made these a few days ago and am getting ready to make some more! These are definitely going to be baked on a regular basis!
I saw a Pinterest idea on making heart shaped pretzels with pink salt. Totally great idea!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html
Looks a lot like that one.
If you take a look at the printable post, you’ll notice that Alton’s recipe was referenced and linked (and has been since this blog post was published).
Its exactly d same. Its Alton Brown’s recipe as well.
Yesterday,I made these for the third time. Somehow I forgot to put in the butter! I am happy to report that they still taste great. The dough texture was a bit more stiff when I rolled them out, and they puffed so much that they did not have holes any more. They make great ham sandwiches. I may leave the butter out on purpose in the future, depending on what I want to do with them.
This is actually a really good recipe. This was my first time making pretzels so everything was simple and easy to follow. I did half the recipe and I used whole wheat flour (it was all I had). I’m not a big fan of whole wheat but it came out really soft and I topped it with the cinnamon sugar. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I’ve been wanting to make these since the recipe was posted back in May. I finally did today. UH-MAZING. Thank you thank you thank you for this recipe!
Making these now… Waiting for dough to rise 🙂 so excited to make these at home so I don’t have to go to the Amish store for their homemade pretzels. Thanks for sharing!
Oh My Gosh! This recipe looks AMAZING!!!! I’m going to start making them right away!! Thanks Sara! 🙂
Wow! Working from home today and made these for the first time. I am absolutely in carb/sugar coma! These turned out amazing! Thank you so much.
Love these pretzels! I made a few little changes – dried off the pretzels with a paper towel after boiling, and baked right on the sheet with nonstick spray (otherwise they stuck something terrible! don’t know what I did wrong) and I only used probably 2 cups of water and 2 T baking soda. 10 and 2/3 cups sounded like a lot to me. Anyway, thanks for the recipe! I’m making a double batch today and freezing them for my husband to eat for quick breakfasts. They taste freshly baked after 35 seconds in the microwave. Delicious!!
I loooove pretzels… I even woked at Auntie Anne’s in highschool, we did the baking soda dip…. for some reason these came out soooo bitter and salty. I’m gonna try another batch and halve the salt, and try some without the baking soda. I don’t know, we were kind of all gagging and that is a first from anything I’ve ever made from your blog. I’ll let you know how the second batch goes….
I can’t believe I have never made homemade pretzels! I really need to make them a priority!
I just made these with the kids today. I have a fewer of yeast and working with it. I always screw it up some how. So far both recipes I have done from your site or book, have turned out great. These do taste just like the mall ones. My kids went ape over them. We did bites instead of big ones. The only thing with that is we cooked them at a lower temp for shorter time since they were done in no time. Also, did not have parchment paper so I used aluminum foil. Could be the reason they were done faster. Delicious and fooled the kids to thinking it was the mall recipe.
I just used this pretzel recipe for making mini-pretzel dogs last night – wrapped strips of dough around hot dog halves, sealed well, boiled in the soda water, then baked as usual. They were AMAZING!
I LOVE your method of cutting the dough into bites and smothering them in cinnamon sugar -I will defintely be trying that out. Can’t wait!
You can substitute half of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour and the pretzels still turn out great! Still the perfect soft pretzel texture. I used about 2 1/2 cups of all purpose, and about 1 1/2 cups whole wheat.
Ok, I have to start out by saying I love everything that I make from your recipes. I am Celiac so I adapt them by using GF flour which usually works great. I’ve had a problem with this recipe. It might just be that I’m not a very good cook 🙂 but you say to use 22oz of flour, which is about 4 1/2 cups. Isn’t 1 cup = 8oz. So that would mean I would use just under 3 cups??? I made the dough with just about 4 cups and they were not right. Help please…
Wendy, a cup is 8 ounces in volume, not in weight. For example, one cup of feathers wouldn’t weigh the same as one cup of rocks, right? The weight is the important part here, not the volume.
Thank you. Like I said I’m not a very good cook but I’m learning! I will try these again. I’m sure they are delicious!!
I attempted to make pretzels yesterday and I didn’t really like the way mine turned out. It just wasn’t the taste I was hoping for. But I gave this recipe another try today… just not for pretzels. I made bread-sticks, and they were amazing!!! After the dough was done rising, I pressed it into a rectangle then placed the dough on a small lightly greased baking sheet. I spread it with butter, baked until golden brown, removed from oven and spread with melted butter (that had minced garlic and parsley in it) and sprinkled it with Parmesan. Fabulous indeed! Thanks for the awesome soft bread-sticks recipe!
I made the cinnamon sugar bites version and the eggy flavor from the wash was overwhelming and off-putting, some of my children refused to eat them and just ate the dip. Next time I will use the egg white, maybe?