Soft Pretzels

Ingredients

  • 4 cups hot water
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

Every Saturday, I take my daughter to the local farmer’s market, and her first stop is always the german bread truck for some fresh pretzels, so finally I started playing with some recipes to make them at home, and the end result is the following:

  1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
  4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
  5. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

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Post Author

This post was written by who has written 86 posts on FoodJumper.com.

Roger Stringer is the editor and founder of FoodJumper as well as the founder of TheInterviewr. He lives in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada and also blogs heavily at RogerStringer.com.