Description
These soft pretzels are full of buttery, salty flavor! Add some dipping sauces and you’ve got yourself the perfect game-day snack.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 1/2C warm water
- 1T honey
- 1 packet of active dry yeast
- 4C bread flour
- 2T unsalted butter, melted and cooled + 3T of melted unsalted butter for brushing on the pretzels once baked
- 1 1/2t kosher salt + extra for topping
- 2/3C baking soda
- 10C water
- 1 egg beaten + 1t water for the egg wash
- All-purpose flour for dusting
- Vegetable oil for greasing a bowl
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 1/2C warm water, honey, and active dry yeast. Allow yeast to bloom for about 3-5 minutes. If you don’t notice any activity after 5 minutes, dump your mixture and start again with new yeast.
- With the dough hook attached, add 2C of bread flour and 2T of the melted butter to the yeast mixture. Mix on low. Add the rest of the bread flour and salt. Starting on low, slowly build the speed up to medium-high and mix for 5 minutes or until the dough forms a loose ball and pulls away from the sides.
- Dump the dough onto a clean, floured work surface and knead by hand for an additional 5 minutes. The dough will be a little sticky, but comes together with kneading. Work it until it passes the windowpane test. (More about this process in the notes above.)
- Oil the bowl of your stand mixer (or another large bowl) and plop your dough inside, coating all sides in oil. Cover with a clean dishtowel or plastic wrap and allow to double in size. This takes around 50 minutes.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 8 equal(ish) sized pieces. Use the heels of your hands to roll one dough piece at a time into a rope between 20 – 24 inches long.
- To shape the pretzels, take one rope and form a ‘U’. Cross the right end over the left and twist, so the right end is now underneath. Grab the two ends and pull them down to the ‘bend’ of the U. Voila!
- Preheat your oven to 450F and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or greased parchment paper.
- Bring 10C of water and 2/3C baking soda to a boil. Add one or two pretzels to the solution at a time, depending on the size of your pot, and boil for about 30 seconds.
- Remove your pretzels using a large slotted spoon or spider and place them onto a baking sheet. It will be 4 pretzels per baking sheet. Liberally brush the pretzels with egg wash and top with coarse salt.
- Bake your pretzels for about 12 – 16 minutes, or until golden brown. (Personally, I start checking them at 15 minutes because I like a deeper color.)
- Remove from the oven and brush with 3T of melted butter for even more shine and buttery flavor. Enjoy warm with plenty of dips.
Keywords: game day snacks, pretzel recipe, soft pretzels, homemade pretzels