I’ve had a hankering for soft pretzels lately, so I decided I would do a little recipe development, and come up with the perfect homemade pretzel. One that is quick and easy to make, and requires the smallest amount of steps. This recipe also doesn’t call for any special ingredients — you might even have all of them in your kitchen cupboards right now!
I learned how to twist the pretzels into the signature pretzel shape when I (very briefly) worked at a pretzel store. I actually miss rolling and shaping the dough because it’s so rewarding once you get it right, and the pretzels end up looking amazing of course. This would be great to make with your kids or your friends since the recipe is very hands-on, and simple to make.
I made a video on my whole recipe development process, which you can check out below so you can watch me come up with my uncomplicated and delicious pretzel recipe. This recipe makes about six soft pretzels and they don’t last very long, so I recommend doubling (or even tripling) this recipe. Another good thing about these pretzels is that you can top these with anything you like. I kept mine simple by topping half of them with coarse salt, and the other half covered in cinnamon sugar, so I would have both sweet and savoury pretzels. I hope you try it out and enjoy!
Here is the recipe:
Homemade Soft Pretzels
This makes about 6 pretzels.
Ingredients
250g (1 cup) warm water
10g (3 tsps) instant yeast
70g (1/3 cup) sugar
6g (1 tsp) salt
423g (3-1/3 cup) flour
30g (3 tbsp) oil
58g (4 tbsp) baking soda
500g (2 cups) warm water
30g (2 tbsp) butter, melted (to brush on the pretzels)
15g (1 tbsp) coarse salt (for topping)
50g (1/4 cup) cinnamon sugar
Method
- In a medium stainless steel bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer bowl, whisk together warm water, yeast, and oil. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and mix together on low speed using a dough hook until the dough comes together (about 3-4 min).
- Gather the dough into a ball and place into a lightly floured bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Once the dough has risen and doubled in size, turn it over onto a clean and floured surface, flatten slightly, and cut into six pieces.
- Stretch each piece and create pretzel twists (feel free to check out my video tutorial below).
- In a medium bowl mix the baking soda and warm water to dip the pretzels into before placing onto a tray lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle with salt if making the pretzels savoury.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 218C/425F for 8-11 min or until golden brown, and turn the tray around half way through baking to ensure even baking.
- Once it is out of the oven, brush the pretzels with butter and top with cinnamon sugar (if making the pretzels sweet).
- Enjoy!!!
ally bakes 