Soft Pretzels

Is there anything better than a warm, freshly baked soft pretzel? These Soft Pretzels are pillowy soft with just the right amount of chewiness. They're brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with kosher salt right before they're baked and they taste absolutely delicious!

This recipe makes a total of 6 pretzels, but can easily be doubled if more are needed. These Soft Pretzels are made with active dry yeast. The dough comes together quickly and is kneaded in the stand mixer for 8 minutes before being set aside in a covered bowl to rise for 1 - 1 ½ hours.

Then the dough can be divided into 6 portions, rolled out into long ropes, and twisted into that beautiful pretzel shape before being soaked in a baking soda solution and baked.

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED

• Measuring Your Ingredients: I strongly encourage that you use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients and ensure that you have the most accurate measurements possible.
  • However, if you don’t have a scale on hand and will be using cup measurements, make sure to use the “spoon and sweep” method when measuring to avoid packing in too much of any dry ingredient.
• Oven Temperature: Make sure to preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes before you start baking.
  • I recommend purchasing an oven thermometer to get to know your oven so you can adjust your baking temperatures accordingly. Some ovens run slightly warmer or colder so its important to know yours to make sure your baked goods come out right.

Let's bake! Warm water in a small bowl until it reaches 110-115º F. Sprinkle yeast on top and whisk together. Set aside for 10 minutes until it starts to look foamy. If the mixture does not foam, start over with a new packet of yeast.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt together. Slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, followed by the melted butter.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix on low-medium speed until the dough starts to stick together and pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add a little more flour at this point.

Once dough starts to stick to the paddle, switch out the paddle for the hook attachment and mix on medium speed for 8 minutes. Dough should be tacky but not sticky.

Coat a large bowl with cooking spray or vegetable oil. Shape the dough into a ball and gently place in bowl, flipping the dough over to coat the top of it as well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 1 - 1 ½ hours, until it has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450º F. Gently push down the dough with your fist so it deflates. Divide the dough evenly into 6 portions. Carefully roll out each portion into a long rope that is about 24" long.

Lift up the rope so that it forms a "U" and place the base of the "U" back down onto the surface while you gently twist the two ends together twice. Then bring them down towards the bottom of the "U" so the tip of each end slightly hangs over it on each side. Carefully transfer the pretzel to a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat this process with the remaining pretzels.

Place water and baking soda in a medium pan and heat until it reaches a boil. Turn the baking soda solution down to a simmer and use a spider skimmer to gently transfer each pretzel to the pan, one at a time. It's important that they keep their shape as they're transferred as it will be hard to change the shape once they're dipped into the solution.

Cook each pretzel for about 30 seconds before placing back on the parchment lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter on each pretzel and top with kosher salt.

Bake pretzels for 15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

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