Soft pretzels are so New York, and I wouldn’t be a responsible New Yorker if I didn’t post about pretzels. These are not like the street pretzels, but they are the best pretzels I’ve ever eaten, super soft and pillow-y with a bit of sweetness in the dough. I’ve adapted this recipe for a stand mixer so you don’t have to knead them by hand.

Mixer Made Soft Pretzels
~makes 12, adapted from Buttery Soft Pretzels

  • 1 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
  • 1/2 cup + 1 teaspoon white sugar, divided
  • 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 4 cups hot water
  • 4 tablespoon butter, melted
  • salt (large flakes better) or cinnamon sugar

Instructions –
1. In a small bowl combine warm water, 1 teaspoon of white sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until creamy.
2. Put 3 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and both salts in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment for a few seconds. Add vegetable oil and yeast mixture and just mix until moistened.
3. Switch to dough hook and knead on low for 5 minutes. Add in the remaining cup of flour while dough is kneading. You can add up to 2 tablespoons of water if dough looks dry.
4. When dough is done kneading, place in a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise till doubled in size, about an hour.
5. Preheat oven 450 degrees F, 30 minutes before you are baking. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick.
6. Dissolve baking soda in hot water.
7. When dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, roughly 1/2″ diameter.

pretzel dough

8. Shape into pretzels, gently pressing ends down to attach. After all pretzels are shaped, dip them into the baking soda/water and place on baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

pretzel shaping pretzel shaping 2
pretzel before baking 2 pretzels 2

9. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with salt or cinnamon sugar. Eat!

This one is cinnamon sugar:

cinnamon sugar pretzles

This one is salt:
pretzel 2

We had to try really hard not to eat these all in one sitting!

posted by jessica at 10:26 PM Filed under American, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.