Easy At-Home Pretzels
Soft pretzels seem fussy but they are insanely easy to make if you have the time for a few steps! Here's my semi-involved, but not really, take on the classic.
Ingredients
- 4 ½ cups whole wheat flour 538 grams plus extra for dusting
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup warm water aim for 100°F
- 2 ¼ teaspoons of active dry yeast about one packet
- 4 tablespoons cold butter or cold vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- ¼ cup baking soda
- 2 tablespoons pretzel salt or coarse ground salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour and salt. Then take 2 tablespoons of the flour mix and put it in your warm water, then add the yeast. Stir to combine and let it sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
- In another bowl, add the rest of the flour mixture, then add the cubed butter. Mix this with your hands until it’s combined and crumbly.
- Pour in the yeast mixture and mix into a rough dough.
- Knead this dough on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes. Once it is smooth, place the dough it in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise for an hour.
- Once it has doubled in size, turn your dough out onto a floured surface and roll it into a long rectangle, then cut that rectangle into 12 even strips lengthwise.
- Roll the strips until they are round, then form each strip into a large U. Cross the ends over about two-thirds the way up for the bottom of the U. Bring the tips of the dough to the bottom of the U and press into the dough to seal. Flip over and you’ll have a pretzel shape! Let those sit while your oven preheats.
- Preheat your oven to 450°F and bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Add your baking soda to the boiling water, then add one or two pretzels to the water at a time. Let them boil for 1 minute.
- Once all your pretzels are boiled, brush them with butter, top with salt and bake for 12 minutes at 450°F.
- Serve and enjoy!