Homemade Soft Pretzels

I adapted this recipe from Food Network's famous, geeky, and witty Alton Brown. This recipe is not typical to Auntie Anne's. These are soft ginormous savory pretzels. However, one can make these edibles to suit one's taste by simply topping it with mustard, coating it with cinnamon sugar, basting it wth honey, or drizzling over a sticky toffee sauce. Better yet, you can wrap hotdogs and make your own pretzel dogs for your little charlie browns and pepper mint patties. I actually like a sweet topping over the rock salt since it makes a nice, sweet, and savory snack. This recipe yields 8  but depending on your preference  modify it to 6 medium ones or 32 mini soft pretzels.

Alton's recipe never fails. You won't go wrong with his take on this pretzel except maybe for the twisting. To complete this mission, I first had to take lessons 101 on how to twist a pretzel from youtube. :) As you see I am a greenie at twisting them. 

For the Pretzels


1 1/2 cup warm water. Temperature should be between 110 - 115 degrees.
1 T. sugar
2 tsp. salt. I used rock salt
1 pack active dry yeast. I used Fleischmann's active dry yeast. 
1 T. vegetable oil. I used canola oil.
4 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 C. unsalted butter, melted
10 cups water
2/3 C. baking soda. (I used only 1/3 cup since I did not want the baking soda taste to overpower the dough)
1 egg. Using an egg wash will make it shiner and give that polished look. But instead of using an eggwash I opted to use butter.
Rock salt to sprinkle over the dough 
sesame seeds (optional)


Directions:  


Mix warmed water, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes to give time for the yeast to activate. An active yeast should create foam. Foam in the mixture indicates a good start but if not, the yeast did not activate either because the water was too water or it was too cold. 

Add flour, butter into the yeast mixture and gently combine them. With a wooden spoon mix the batter to incorpoate them together. When the dough pulls away from the bowl  transfer it to a table top and knead lightly by hand for about 4 - 5 minutes. Adding flour to the work top is not needed. 


Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a hand towel. Put it in a warm area to proof for 1 hour.












After an hour, the dough has doubled in size.

Divide the dough in half. Each half will be divided into four to make a total of  8 big pretzels.

Heat up the water and baking soda to a boil and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Roll the 8 pieces of dough lengthwise to approximately 12 - 15 inches long. When rolling be gentle yet firm to avoid bruising the core which makes a smoother pretzel on the outside. But if you like the rustic look and don't bother with a smoother appearance then just roll. 

Form a U shape and cross the ends over each other. Press both ends to the bottom to create the famous pretzel shape.  Once water is boiling add one pretzel at a time. Let it boil for 30 seconds on each side.

Remove pretzel from water and transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper that has been brushed with oil. Sprinkle rock salt and sesame seeds.




Bake for 13 - 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven.