Make the best soft pretzel at home! Perfectly chewy and soft on the inside with golden brown on the outside.
I have originally made this recipe with a bread machine. I thought bread machine made ‘making soft pretzel from home’ SUPER easy. But no. I’m going to show you how EASY it is to make these with a stand up mixer (or by hand!) I made this again with my 22 month old son. He had so much fun making dough.
This recipe makes about 8 pretzels. I like to eat them fresh and store the rest in an airtight container and put it in the freezer. When you are ready for another one, just microwave for a few minutes!
You can definitely sprinkle coarse salt or pretzel salt on the top after eggwash. I prefer no salt so nothing on top for me!
You can easily make this into different variation fo pretzels.
• Cinnamon sugar pretzel (or pretzel bites)
• Sweet almond pretzel (Auntie Anne’s copycat)
Homemade Soft Pretzel
Ingredients
- 1 cup water room temperature, divided
- 1 tbsp butter room temperature
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 ¾ cups white flour
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
For Water Bath
- 6 cups water
- 1/3 cup baking soda
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1-2 tsp water
Instructions
Dough and Shape
- In a bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and 1/4 cup of the water. Whisk to combine. Let stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
- Add the remaining water, flour, salt, and yeast mixture, and stir to combine. Add the room temperature butter. Mix on low speed until combined.Increase speed to medium and knead for about five minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. Dough shouldn't stick to the sides of the bowl.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Shape dough rope into a large U, take the 2 ends in your fingers and cross one over the other about 3 inches from the ends. Bring twisted end toward you, fold down leaving ends over-hang a bit. Press dough down a bit where it intersects at the bottom.
Waterbath
- In large wide pot bring 6 cups of water to simmer. Add baking soda and stir to dissolve the baking soda. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Place 1 to 2 pretzels into water bath and simmer for 30 seconds. Flip pretzels and simmer for another 30 seconds. With large slotted spoon remove pretzels and transfer to baking sheet.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After all pretzels have been dipped in the water bath, brush with egg wash. *If you want to add salt, do this after brushing with egg wash.Bake 400 degrees for 10 -12 minutes until golden brown.