Soft Pretzel Recipe

For weeks my mom was nagging me to make her soft pretzels---and I mean weeks! So I finally decided to give the woman what she wanted, I trialed and errored and came up with this simple yet so good pretzel recipe that's fun to make, tastes great, and will impress all of your friends.

You can make them in the classic pretzel shape---which seems daunting at first but once you get the hang of it, its easy and you'll never forget how. Or you can make bites, twists, anything your heart desires!

Soft Pretzels

Prep time: 2 hrs (depends) Cook time: 13-16 minutes Yield: about 10 pretzels By: Kali Primiani

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 5 Cups of flour ( 4 ½ cups for dough, ½ cup for when shaping)

• 1 ½ Cups warm water (110-120℉)

• 1 Tbsp of sugar

• 3 Tsp salt

• 1 Pack instant yeast or 2 ¼ tsp yeast

• ½ Cup butter, melted

Additional:

• About 2 tbsp butter

• Cooking spray

• 1 Cup baking soda

• 1 Egg

• 2 Tbsp water

• About 2 Tbsp Kosher salt

Instructions:

1. First in a mixing bowl ( I use my kitchen aid with the bread hook) add the 1 ½ cups of warm water, heated to about 110-120℉ (preferable for the yeast to activate), then mix in 1 Tbsp sugar, 3 tsp salt and sprinkle the yeast on top of the mixture.

2. Let the yeast sit for about 10 minutes, a foam will form--which means the yeast is activated and ready to go.

3. Once the ½ cup melted butter has cooled add it and the 4 ½ cups of flour to the bowl and mix on low speed until everything is well combined.

4. Once combined, turn up to medium speed and allow to mix for 3-5 minutes.

5. Grab a bowl and grease with either cooking spray or butter, and place dough in the bowl, cover the dough with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot for at least an hour ( I usually let it sit for about 3-4 hours).

6. Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 450℉. Then prep baking sheets with the 2 tbsp butter and cooking spray. Place parchment paper on the sheet, then butter the paper, and then spray the sheet with cooking spray. ( I like to do both butter and spray, the butter adds extra flavor and crisp edges, and the spray prevents sticking)

7. Now take the egg and 2 tbsp water and mix them together in a small bowl and set to the side.

8. Then fill a pot with water and mix in the 1 cup of baking soda and bring to a boil.

9. Use the remaining 1/2 cup flour to dust the surface you're working on, may need to add more as you work with the dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Now grab chunks of dough (a little smaller than a baseball) knead the chunk then roll it out into a 20 inch rope, then fold into the shape of a pretzel. (lay rope into a U shape, twist ends once, then a second time, then on the second twist bring down ends to the bottom part of the U).

10. Once the pretzels are shaped, place them one at a time into the boiling water. They will sink at first then float to the top, once they float to the top let them sit in the water for 20-30 seconds, then remove from water and place on the baking sheet. Brush them with the egg mixture, and then sprinkle with salt. Do this for every pretzel. Should yield about 10 pretzels---depends on how big they’re made.

11. Then bake the pretzels in the oven for 13-16 minutes--I like them on the darker crispier side so I usually do 15-16 minutes.

12. Once done baking, place on a cooling rack, allow to cool then enjoy!