A recipe for chewy fresh baked German style Soft Pretzels. Top them with sea salt or cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat.
There’s nothing like a fresh baked soft pretzel…unless it’s an Air Fryer Pretzel Bite. These are great when you need a quick appetizer. They still require a soda bath but bake up quickly in the air fryer. Speaking of air fryers, I am in love with mine. We use it often, especially on weeknights when we need a quick dinner like Chicken Caprese.
There’s No Way to Resist a Soft Pretzel
Finally! Literally after years of begging, kid number two has finally convinced me to make soft pretzels. She’s never in her known life seen me make pretzels even though I have made them before. I was hesitant to make them again as I was pretty sure I would need a second pair of hands to complete the boiling and baking portion. Back in the day (my university days) I found the process really hectic and unfamiliar. Let me just say that I’ve come a long way…baby. I could probably do this recipe half awake and in no time at all…which is kind of a scary thing considering how delicious they are.
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The recipe makes 16 pretzels and with my whole family home Sunday (and hungry because we skipped lunch again) they were gone within 10 minutes of the requisite photo session.
I had kid number two assist with the photo taking during the dough shaping process. When she saw how easy they were to make she told me there was no excuse for me waiting so long…
I found the dough really springy. No matter how many times I tried to make a long thin snake by the time I had completed all the twists and turns required to make the pretzel shape the dough had shrunk back and the pretzel ended up looking like a knotted bun. I guess they still looked somewhat like pretzels and what really mattered is that they tasted great!
One thing I thought really odd was the addition of a 1/4 cup of baking soda into the boiling water. I knew it was important in making the outside of the pretzels shiny but I think the amount may have been too much. The salted pretzels tasted fine but the ones we topped with butter, cinnamon, and sugar reacted with the baking soda so that eating them put an odd taste in our mouths. Next time I’ll experiment with less baking soda.
I’m a sucker for little Germans…by the way did you know that Dachshund is German for ‘little pain in the ass’? Neither did I but I have to concur. My badger hounds definitely know when to push my buttons and when to snuggle.
This is the closest any dachshund got to my pretzels!
Cinnamon and Sugar Pretzels
Soft Pretzels
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Soft Pretzels
A recipe for soft, chewy fresh baked German style pretzels. Top them with sea salt or cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
- 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 2 3/4 cups bread flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
FOR BOILING PRETZELS
- 6 cups water
- 3 Tablespoons baking soda
TOPPINGS
- cinnamon, sugar, melted butter or any other topping you would like to put on the pretzels
Instructions
- Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast and allow to sit for 5 minutes, until foamy. If your yeast/water combo isn’t bubbly it’s not good!
- In another bowl, whisk together bread flour, sugar and salt.
- Attach the dough hook to your stand mixer. Add flour to yeast mixture and turn your mixer on low. Mix for 10 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise for half an hour.
- Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Once your dough has risen, punch down and knead by hand for another minute.
- Divide dough into 16 small balls. Take each ball and roll into a long string, then twist into pretzel shape.
- Place prepared pretzels on baking sheets and cover. Allow to rise for 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425 F and boil 6 cups of water in a large pot.
- Once water is boiling, add baking soda to the pot.
- Add pretzels (depending on the size of your pot, you might be able to fit 4-5 pretzels at a time). Boil one minute per side.
- Transfer boiled pretzels to the baking sheets and sprinkle with them with sea salt or your preferred topping.
- Once you’ve boiled them all. Bake them for 10-12 minutes or until dark brown.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 191Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 1164mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 14gProtein: 4g
Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.
Wow…Philly-style pretzels, particularly with the mustard! Must dig out my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother’s recipe, but I don’t recall the baking soda technique. Sounds like something I should try!
Philly style? I don’t know anything about that. For me it’s more of a German tradition. Are there lots of Germans in Penn state with those Dutch?
The technique is similar to making bagels. Though I haven’t made those yet…
The Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch = corruption of Deutsch. German, not Dutch! Philadelphia was at one time had a huge number of people with German ancestry, many pre-Revolutionary War, that is besides the Quakers. Soft pretzels with mustard are sold by vendors all over Philadelphia. It is one of the things I miss about the place!
ahhhh, gotcha. That explains it.
Yum yum yum so tempted 🙂
Hi! Glad you liked the pretzels! Interesting that they tasted funny when you added cinnamon and sugar! I’ve made bagels before with less baking soda, but I found that I didn’t get the same crust as with using more baking soda. But if you do try again with less, let me know! I’d love to know if less is just as effective.
Your pretzels look absolutely beautiful by the way!
I also added butter…there must have been some reaction going on.
Did you use the same recipe for bagel? These pretzels sure turned out light and fluffy!
Aw thanks 🙂