Soft-baked, chewy, and fluffy inside, these homemade pretzels take no time at all to make. From Scratch Soft Pretzels are soft and chewy on the inside with a salty and crackly brown outside.
Just when you thought soft pretzels couldn’t get any better, they do! From-Scratch Soft Pretzels have a wonderful flavor & chewy bite.
These pretzels are fun to make at home and are great for parties, get-togethers, and game day served plain or with a variety of sauces. Sweet sauces like chocolate, caramel, and pecan pie sauce make good choices. (Click on the photo below for the recipe.) A classic cheese sauce is always popular as well.
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- Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce
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- Pecan Pie Caramel Sauce
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- Baked Donuts Chocolate Frosting
The reason I started making From-Scratch Soft Pretzels at home is that my oldest son, Speedster, requested them. I had no idea how simple they are to prepare. And, homemade soft pretzels are even better than the ones you find at the mall or ball games. You can get that same pretzel-shop aroma, soft texture, and flavor at home.
Hot pretzels require only a few simple pantry ingredients and can be made start to finish in about 30 minutes. Speedster does help me make them which cuts the prep time down. He shapes the pretzels and dunks them in the soda bath which takes about 5 minutes.
From Scratch Soft Pretzels
- The prepared pretzel dough can be refrigerated for 24 hours or frozen in an airtight container for 2-3 months.
- Thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.
- The refrigerated dough can be cooked while it’s still cold. However, allow extra time for the pretzels to puff up before the baking soda bath and baking.
- You can freeze already cooked pretzels for 2 months. To reheat, bake the frozen pretzels at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until warmed through. I don’t recommend warm in the microwave, they will get tough.
Golden and chewy. I love them fresh and hot right out of the oven.
From-Scratch Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 and 1/2 cups warm water 120-130 degrees F
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt for dough
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 4 to 4 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour sift (plus more for work surface)
- coarse salt for sprinkling
Baking Soda Bath
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 9 cups water
Instructions
- Whisk the yeast into the warm water and allow to sit for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the salt and sugar and allow to sit 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough attachment, add the water mixture and slowly add 4 cups sifted, all-purpose flour. Add up to 3/4 more flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is no longer sticky. (Test by poking the dough with your finger. If it bounces back it is ready to knead.)
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 3 minutes. Shape into a ball and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- During this 10 minutes, prepare the soda water. Bring 9 cups of water to a boil. Stir in baking soda.
- To get even amounts. I half the dough, then half again, etc, until I have 12 to 14 even dough balls.
- Roll each dough ball into a 20 inch rope. Bring the ends to form a circle but cross them instead and fold them back down to the base of the circle to form a pretzel shape.
- Drop 2 to 3 pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with remaining pretzels.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm.
- Pretzels can be stored in an airtight container or zipped top bag for up to 3 days. They will lose a little of the softness each day.
- *See post above for additional tips.
Notes
Nutrition
You can also find great recipes here or at Meal Plan Monday or Weekend Potluck.
Linda Wedgeworth says
Do you think you could make these with whole wheat flour?
Paula says
yes, but use half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour or they will be too heavy/dense
2pots2cook says
Pretzels from scratch are the best ! Thank you !