Homemade Soft Pretzels

The Picky one and the Eater-in-Betweener decided to throw some soft pretzels together one afternoon. We hadn't planed on doing much that afternoon other than playing Mario Kart, drinking coffee, and watching episodes of Ghost Adventures, but a craving hit E.I.B and Picky stayed along for the ride.


Now, neither of us have any formal training as far as baking goes, but the Foodie has actually attended culinary school and has a certificate in baking. No big deal, right? We dove into this recipe without the slightest hint at what we were doing. Foodie was at work so we had to fend for ourselves.


We decided to try Alton Brown's recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels. Picky added the warm water, sugar, and kosher salt to the bowl and then proceeded with the yeast while I measured out the flour and melted the butter. In hindsight, we probably should have been working together on one thing right away. The recipe instructed us to let the yeast sit on top of the warm water, sugar, and salt mixture (I'm sure there's some science in here that Foodie could explain later) until it started to foam. We watied. We waited some more. We waited even longer. We looked at each other, figured it was enough time despite there not being much  (okay-- none at all) foamy yeast in the bowl, and added the flour and butter. Strike 1.


The stand mixer was equipped with the dough hook attachment, so we were ready to get this show on the road! The recipe noted that it'd take about 4 to 5 minutes for the dough to come together and start to peel from the sides of the bowl. Five minutes in, our dough was still crumby and not coming together at all. We both agreed that it needed more water. We checked the recipe reviews on the website to see if anyone else had the same issue. They didn't. Strike 2. 

We added water in by the tablespoon until the dough came together as it should.  At this point we were to oil the bowl and place the dough back into the bowl and place it in a warm spot for an hour to let the dough rise. After a couple of rounds of Mario Kart, a walk to Alterra, and some coffee later, we came home and went to check out our double in size dough! Probably not much of a surprise to you at this point, but our dough didn't rise. Not one bit. Strike 3. 

Now, we could have given up. We could have thrown the towel in and said forget it to soft pretzels... but we didn't. We're not those kind of people. We wanted soft pretzels and we were going to make them, darn it! We started all over again. Attempt number 2.

It was time to get the first 3 ingredients together again... warm water, sugar, kosher salt. Since things didn't go so well the first time around, we both worked together this time from the start. Picky did the sugar and salt, I got the water. Scratch that. Picky had originally filled the measuring cup with water, but when he brought it over and added it to the bowl, I felt the "warm" water... that was not in the least bit warm. He claimed it was (it totally wasn't). I added the warm water to the bowl, sprinkled the yeast on top and watched in amazement as the yeast foamed! It foamed! We did it! Strike 1, solved.

Also, during the time I remeasured the warm water to add to the bowl again, Picky looked over and asked why I was adding 1 1/2 cups of water and not 1 1/4 cups like the recipe says. I then pointed out that the recipe did indeed call for 1 1/2 cups of water. We both looked at each other and nodded, as we had both figured out our crumby dough problem. Strike 2,  solved. 

Everything came together beautifully. We placed the dough in an oiled bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and placed it in a warm area... this time on top of the preheating oven, as the sun had moved too much by this time and we no longer had a naturally warm spot to place it. One our later, we came back to find the dough did rise! Strike 3, solved.

From this point on, our pretzels were a walk in the park. Our dough rose beautifully, the baking soda in the boiling water left a coating on the pretzels perfect to form a skin to stick the salt to and brown up wonderfully in the oven. They were delicious! Perfect soft pretzel consistency; soft on the inside, beautiful golden brown on the outside. We did get 8 pretzels out of this recipe as stated. The pretzels came out of the oven just as Foodie arrived home from work. She even said they were great! 

We'd definitely make these again. All of the ingredients necessary for the recipe were ones we already had on hand-- perfect for rainy, lazy days! The one thing we didn't have was pretzel salt, but we used coarse kosher salt and it worked just fine. The recipe was easy to follow (if you actually make sure to communicate with each other during the process) and  is definitely one you could make with kids! You could have them twist their pretzels in the traditional shape, or they could twist their own creations or even make little pretzel bites. Try sprinkling some cinnamon and sugar on the pretzels at the end instead of salt-- yum! We'd highly recommend this recipe to try the next time you have a hankerin' for some good old fashioned soft pretzels! 
-Eater-in-Between

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 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

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.
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown via Food Network.com