Davey’s Delicious Homemade Soft Pretzel Recipe
Davey’s Homemade Soft Pretzels
It’s time to take your next Oktoberfest party to the next level with my Delicious Homemade Soft Pretzel recipe. Heck, these soft pretzels are so good, you can make and eat them any time of the year.
My quest for the best soft pretzel began in Germany a couple of years back. Karie and I were traveling through Bavaria and had many, many a pretzel. They all seemed to be a little bit different though and it was very difficult to narrow down the best. Once we returned home our quest continued and I tried several recipes of my own finally coming to the recipe I am bringing you today. This one was found and brought to you courtesy of Alton Brown and the Food Network.
Here is the recipe that I found to be the ultimate in soft pretzel cooking.
Total Time: 1 hour and 55 min
Prep: 30 min
Inactive 1 hour
Cook: 25 min
Yield: Makes 8 Pretzels
Level: Intermediate
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- 1 package of active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 ounces of unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil or spray
- 10 cups of water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon of water
- Coarse Salt
Soft Pretzel Directions
I’ll take you through each step as well as add some photos along the way.
Step 1- Starting out
Combine all of the following right in your mixing bowl. I happen to use a Kitchen Aid mixer and it works great! Side note, I found the Kitchen Aid Classic with Tilt head on Amazon for almost half off. Really good deal. If you don’t have one, might be a good chance to invest.
Combine the 1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Sprinkle the 1 package of active dry yeast on top of the bowl of other items.
Allow all of this to sit for 5 full minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
Once the mixture begins to foam, add the 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 2 ounces of melted butter.
At this point, you are ready to begin mixing. Use the dough hook attachment that came with your mixer and begin on a low setting until the ingredients are well combined. At that point, change to a medium speed and kneed the dough until it is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This process should take no more than 4 to 5 minutes.
I like to have my prep bowl ready to go while the dough is kneading.
Tip! I like to spray my prep bowl with a spray oil. This will keep dough from sticking during the rising process.
Now that your dough has thoroughly kneaded, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it in the greased prep bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Place the covered bowl in a warm place for approximately 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Tip! One thing that I like to do is take a Sharpie and write the time that I put it in the bowl, as well as the time that it should be done.
Step 2 – Prepping the oven and baking sheets
While your dough is in the process of rising, go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and coat with your cooking spray. You can go ahead and set these aside for later use.
At this point, I will usually go ahead and beat my egg yolk and water mixture and set it aside.
Step 3- Prepare to boil
Bring 10 cups of water and the 2/3 cup of baking soda to a rolling boil in a large saucepan. The pan doesn’t have to be tall, but it does have to be deep enough to submerge your pretzels in the water.
Step 4- Getting messy
Now is the fun part where you can get creative and you will get a little messy. Once the 55 minutes has passed on your dough, go ahead and uncover and turn it out onto your work surface. I do this right on the counter that I have sprayed with my cooking spray.
Divide your dough into 8 equal pieces.
I will first divide it into 4 equal parts, pull them apart then divide each by 2.
Once your dough is divided into 8 equal portions, roll each out into a roughly 24 inch rope.
Now that you have your rope of dough, make a U-shape with the rope.
Holding each end of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to create the pretzel shape.
Place the formed pretzel onto the parchment-lined, sprayed sheet pan.
Step 5- Almost there
Now comes the cooking. This can also be a bit messy, so be prepared. The water/baking soda will splash and make water marks on your stove and counter, and pretty much everything else it gets on, but it will clean up easily.
One by one, place each pretzel in the boiling water for 30 seconds. I like to use a spatula to hold it entirely under water for about half the time.
Once the 30 seconds is up, remove the pretzel with a large, flat spatula returning it to the parchment paper.
Now that you have done all 8 pretzels and they are on the parchment paper, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture.
After each pretzel is coated with the egg yolk mixture, sprinkle the pretzels with the coarse salt to your liking. Remember less is probably better at this point. You can always moisten and add more after.
Step 6- Baking
Now that your pretzels have been salted, they are ready to bake. Place them in the oven and bake until a dark, golden brown. This should take about 12 – 14 minutes. I like to switch oven racks halfway through the process.
Once they have hit the dark, golden brown color that you desire, go ahead and remove them from the oven and onto cooling racks.
Give these guys about 5 minutes to rest and serve away.
You now have a nice batch of homemade soft pretzels. Serve them with a nice spicy brown mustard, or even some regular yellow if you’d like. You really can’t go wrong.
Side notes:
If you are having an Oktoberfest party, or want to do a mid year Oktoberfest party, don’t forget the Brats!
And as my wife loves to do, come up with a creative way to decorate for the themed party as well. She made these themed centerpieces pretty easily.
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Happy eating!
Davey
