Homemade Soft Pretzels

Lately there has been a "pretzel" craze in restaurants; pretzel bite appetizers, pretzel buns, pretzel sticks, etc.  Fortunately I love a good soft pretzel, and a good pretzel bun.  My husband and I like to order pretzel appetizers when we eat out, and one day I had a craving for a soft pretzel roll and eating out wasn't in our budget for that day.  So I set out searching through my tasty treats pinterest board to find that pretzel recipe I pinned and...it required milk, I did not have any milk.

What to do? I searched for milk substitutes in a pretzel recipe, nothing good.
I searched for milk free pretzel recipes and found a few that sounded good. 
Then I came across this one: homemade by holman soft pretzels
The only thing I was unsure about was using bread flour, I only had all purpose flour.
I noticed that I did not have rapid rising yeast either, so I followed the directions on the package.

The results were great! 



They were soft, but firm on the outside.  A little chewy, and a little sweet.  Definitely a recipe I will make again!

Pretzel recipe adapted from Homemade by Holman:
Dough:
1 package yeast
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 T olive oil

Baking Soda Solution:
6 cups water
3 T baking soda

 Salt or your favorite seasonings for sprinkling on pretzels


First: follow the directions on your yeast package:

 

This organic yeast needed to be proofed first...rapid rise yeast does not. Just follow the directions and add the remainder of ingredients when ready.

 

 

Into my yeast mixture went all of the ingredients for the dough:

 1/4 cup honey
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour (part of the flour was used to create the yeast mixture)
1 cup warm water (part was used to mix the yeast)
  1 T olive oil

 

I used my Kitchen aid mixer to mix the dough. I mixed for a few minutes until it was well combined and then used the dough hook to knead the dough until it was smooth and elastic.

 

Transfer the dough to a separate container coated with olive oil to keep it from sticking. (I had a little too much olive oil, oops)

Also I used a double sided metal mixing bowl and later I transferred it to a glass bowl.  I recommend glass, the dough did not rise very well in the metal bowl.

 

Cover and leave in a warm place to rise for around an hour or until doubled in size.

 This is where I transferred the dough to a glass bowl, it seemed to rise better after that.

 

Punch down the dough then re-cover and let rise again about 30 min.

 

Meanwhile prepare your baking soda water to boil the pretzels in.

Approximately 6 cups water

3 T baking soda

 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

 

When the dough is ready separate into equal portions.  I make large portions because I wanted to make thick chunky pretzel rolls. For a more traditional soft pretzel make smaller portions when at this step.

 

Roll and stretch out the dough into a long string.  Again, I rolled mine thick to make a roll, for a traditional soft pretzel roll yours out thinner. I also didn't take much care to make them "smooth" if you are concerned about the texture of the pretzel take care to make them smooth as the bumps do not go away when baked.

 

A little twist and....A pretzel is formed!

 

When the baking soda water reaches a rapid boil lay your pretzel on a slotted spoon and place into the water.  Cook for about 30 seconds on each side.  I found that I liked the pretzels I cooked longer.  I think that is because my pretzels were so thick and actually needed a little longer boil time.

 

Make sure that you drain the extra liquid from the pretzel before placing on the baking sheet.  No one likes a soggy pretzel!

I drained mine on a paper towel placed over a hand towel on a plate.

 

See the difference in the texture of the dough?  When the dough is boiled it gets shiny and a little slimy looking but is firm to the touch.  That's why pretzels have that great chewy outside crust.

Here they are boiling away.

As soon as you remove the pretzels from the boiling water and they are drained transfer them to the baking tray and sprinkle with your favorite pretzel toppings.

 

This pretzel is topped with garlic salt and crushed red pepper flakes.

 

 

I did three different types of pretzel rolls; garlic salt and crushed red pepper, salted, and two with cinnamon and sugar. (for dessert)

 

Bake the pretzels for 12-15 minutes or until they reach a deep dark brown.

 

Beautiful!

 

Warning:  The cinnamon and sugar did burn a little.  I think next time I will add the cinnamon and sugar after they are done baking. 

 

 

I used my pretzel rolls with my pepper peach chicken for dinner.  I will be making these again soon as pretzel bites for a celebration of motherhood party paired with my delicious recipe for spicy beer cheese sauce.  Yummy!

 

Thanks for baking with Baker and Brackenridge!

Love & Light,

Jamie Jeanne