Soft Pretzels
After a trip to the mall and smelling the famous Aunt Annie's Pretzels, I decided to give it a try at home. I came across this 5-star recipe from Chef Alton Brown. The two variations of the recipe I made were to roll the "ropes" out thinner which increased the yield to 12 and made them a little harder, and instead of salting all of them, I set half aside and coated them with melted butter then sugar and cinnamon, so I had both savory and sweet pretzels. They were amazing out of the oven!
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm 110 to 115 degrees F water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ounces 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 salt
- 1/4 cup sugar optional
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon, ground optional
Instructions
Directions
- Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, 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 with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Optional: To make sweet pretzels (like Aunt Annie's Pretzels), I remove half of the pretzels from the oven, coat them with melted butter and toss them in a Ziploc bag of a cinnamon-sugar mixture.