Soft Homemade Pretzels
Soft Homemade Pretzels, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, the perfect snack or anytime bread.
Can you believe I have never eaten Soft Homemade Pretzels? Although I am one to buy a bag every now and again of those hard, crunchy pretzel sticks.
Last summer when I was visiting in Toronto, I was lucky enough to come across a bunch of hand written recipes by my Mom. One of those recipes was for Soft Homemade Pretzels. I am sure she never made them though.
Makes you wonder where and from who she got this recipe and why she never made them?I must give all the credit to my eldest daughter for convincing me to give these a go. All I can say is, I am so glad she did.
Now I know why everyone goes crazy for soft pretzels. Little did I know, but with a little bit of searching, I also discovered that pretzels apparently were invented by an Italian Monk, as a reward to children for learning their prayers!
The dough for Soft Homemade Pretzels is so easy, as easy as pizza dough. Let it rest an hour or two or until it doubles in bulk.
I am not going to give you any tips on forming the perfect pretzel because mine were far from perfect (check out How to Twist a Pretzel-wiki how) all I can say is “easier said than done”.
After I did the best job I could and they were boiled in the baking soda/water bath then brushed with egg and sprinkled with rock salt and baked.
I was impressed some actually came out looking like pretzels while most of them looked like small pretzel buns. Tonight I made myself a turkey sandwich with a pretzel bun and I have to tell you it was pretty amazing.
The rest of the family found them pretty amazing considering there are only 3 left! Buon Appetito!
Soft Homemade Pretzels
Soft Homemade Pretzels
Ingredients
- ¾ cup lukewarm water 368 grams
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast 7 grams
- 2¼ cups flour 540 grams
- ½ teaspoon salt 5.6 grams
PRETZEL BOIL
- 3 tablespoons baking soda
- 4-5 cups water
EXTRAS
- 1 large egg beaten
- ½ tablespoon coarse salt
- 1-2 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- In the bowl of the stand up mixer add the lukewarm water and sugar, mix together, sprinkle the yeast on top, let sit 5-10 minutes then mix together.
- Add the oil, flour and salt to the yeast mixture and start to knead with the dough hook. Knead on speed #2 for approximately 4-5 minutes, until you have a firm smooth dough.
- Move the dough to a lightly floured flat surface and knead into a smooth ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl turning the dough to oil the lightly oil the top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft free area until doubled in bulk, about 1-2 hours.
- Punch the dough down and cut into 5 pieces. On a lightly floured flat surface roll each piece into a 16-18 inch (50cm) long rope. Form into pretzels (see photos). Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30-45 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 425F
- In a large pot add the water and baking soda, bring to a boil and boil the pretzels one or two at a time, turning once with a slotted spoon for about 45 seconds. Move the pretzels to the wire rack to dry then place on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Move immediately to a wire rack to cool or best eaten warm. Brush with melted butter before serving if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Can you use bleached flour
Hi Ron, yes you can, it should be fine. Let me know how it goes.
Can you make this into a pizza dough
Hi Ron, I have never made it as pizza, so I really don’t know how it would turn out. I do have a really good pizza dough recipe on the blog. https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/best-pizza-dough/ 🙂
Great recipe! My family loved it!
what would be your recommendation if i wanted to make these a day ahead of time and re-heat these for a party? would i just pop them in a 200 degree oven to warm them up a bit for, say, 15 minutes?
Hi Diana, I think 200-250 (fahrenheit) would be good, I usually re heat pizza at that temperature but I would start to check it after 5 minutes or so, 10 minutes would probably do it. Rosemary
Hello! Those pretzels look scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it. Pinning! 😀
Thank you hope you like them, and thanks for pinning! Have a great weekend.
Hi There! I was just about to write to you to try to figure out if you’re okay. So I came to your blog to get your address and i discovered that you have quite a few posts that I haven’t gotten. WOW!! There must be a least ten. I think the last one I got was the one with the crackers. I just can’t believe it!!! I will sign up again so I don’t miss any posts. I was going to tell you that I missed reading what you were up to. Anyway, hubby and I make pretzels all the time plus the cheese sauce. We will be making them for our kids now that we’re back home for a while. Buona Giornata. I’m glad you are okay 🙂
Hi Marisa, yes I changed over to mailchimp, so glad you stopped by. I would love to try pretzels with a cheese sauce, sounds amazing. And thank you for thinking of me. Have a great weekend.
They look so good, makes my mouth water :9
These look so soft and delicious! I can see why they were used as rewards! I have tons of recipes I haven’t made yet, I’ve kept them for years hoping to get around to them, lol Maybe someday.