If you decide to make these AH-mazing homemade soft pretzels, make sure someone else is home to help you eat them. I had to wait FIVE excruciating hours for Casey to get home and I SWEAR I almost locked myself out of the house TWICE so I wouldn’t eat more. When Casey finally arrived, I had a pretzel filled dinner waiting for him. For an appetizer, he started off with a plain pretzel dipped in hot mustard. His entree was a cheesy jalapeno pretzel with a few dashes of Tapatio. For dessert, he devoured a crispy cinnamon sugar pretzel. That’s right. Three courses of doughy goodness for my husband. That’s how we roll.
You should make these pretzels this weekend if you can! The active time is a snap and the inactive/proofing time can be spent cleaning up your kitchen or doing crunches while watching trashy TV. The bottom line: these pretzels are LEGIT and people will be impressed! I kinda feel like opening up my own soft pretzel stand outside our house featuring Honey Rosemary Lemonade. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I’m totally dreaming.
p.s.- Cross off another item from my 31 comes before 32 list. #15. Make my own soft pretzels!
And we’re off! Brace yourself. Picture overload!
Not because it’s hard…just because I want you to see how easy it is!
Yeast, water, sugar…no big deal.
Flour & salt. In the mixing bowl.
Foamy yeast! Melt some butter!
Pour yeast & butter into the flour.
Turn on your mixture with the dough hook and GO!
After about 4-5 minutes your dough is ready for proofing. Thank heaven for electric mixers!
Lube the bowl with vegetable oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Wait. Do something productive.
After an hour, you’re ready! Make a TOPPING BAR.
Plop the dough on the counter and cut it into 8 pieces.
Roll each of them out and make a U. U as in UNIVERSITY of Pretzels. I graduated with honors.
Pretzel. Real pretzel. It’s happening!
Keep at them. Put them on lined/lubed parchment line baking sheets. All eight of them.
Get a huge pot of water boiling with baking soda in it. Watch it bubble!
Drop the pretzels in- 3 at a time. Boil for a minute.
Set aside and keep at them.
Now we’re ready to top! I couldn’t find pretzel salt. I don’t even like pretzel salt! So I made up my own toppings.
Yolk them up!
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of some.
Load a few up with jalapenos & shredded cheese.
Add a little kosher salt to one…
BAKE!
Hello 3 Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels and 1 Plain pretzel!
And hello there…beautiful Jalapeno Cheddar CRUSTED pretzel.
Let’s take a moment….
I burned my tongue on you…but DANG you were worth it!
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Makes 8
(recipe slightly adapted from Alton Brown)
- 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 package active dry yeast (1/4 oz.)
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- vegetable oil, for pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel Toppings:
- cinnamon sugar (1/8 cup sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon)
- shredded cheddar (as much as you want)
- pickled jalapenos (as many as you can handle!)
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in a measuring cup and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the yeast mixture and melted butter into the flour mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle your toppings. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
