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Homemade Soft Pretzel Recipe
In American Recipes

Homemade Soft Pretzel Recipe



These delicious homemade soft pretzels are so easy to make at home that you’ll never buy them at the store again.

Ingredients for this recipe:

• 2 cups of warm water between 110° and 115°
• 1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 packet active yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 3 ounces melted unsalted butter
• 5 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¾ cup baking and 1 gallon of water
• 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon cold water
• coarse kosher or sea salt for topping

Makes 12 pretzels

Prep time: 15 minutes

Resting Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

procedures:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450°.
2. In a standing mixer bowl, add in the water, brown sugar, and sprinkle on the yeast, whisk together and let it sit for 5 to 7 minutes or until it forms a foamy raft on top.
3. Add the hook attachment and turn the speed to low and pour in the salt and butter.
4. Add in the flour 1 cup at a time until combined and knead the dough on low to medium speed for 5 minutes.
5. Add oil into a large bowl or container and place in the dough. Cover with a towel or lid and rest until it doubles in size, about an hour
6. Before it is time to form the dough, bring the baking soda and 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large pot.
7. To form the dough, take a small piece and roll it out until it is a 24” long rope. Form the dough into a U shape and holding each end cross over each other and pull down to make a pretzel with the ends slightly over the other part of the dough.
8. Turn down the boiling water to a simmer and cook each pretzel dough 1 to 2 at a time for :30 each and then place back on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper or with a silpat
9. Once all of the pretzels have been cooked in the baking soda solution, brush the tops with the egg wash and season heavily with coarse kosher or sea salt.
10. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

CHEF NOTES:

• How To Reheat: Place on a tray and wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 350° for 5-6 minutes or until hot. Likewise you can also heat in the microwave until hot.

• Make Ahead: You can make pretzels up to 1 day ahead of time and reheat before serving.

• How To Store: Keep wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

• Feel free to make the pretzels as thick or as thin as you’d like and also consider making pretzel bites or rods.

• When adding the water to the stand mixer I usually like to go a little hotter like 118° because the bowl is usually a little chilly and drops the temperature of it by a few degrees making it perfect for the yeast.

• You may need more flour when kneading the dough in the stand mixer. The goal is that the dough be very soft but not sticky.
• A silpat is a non-stock baking sheet made of a blend of silicone and fiberglass. They are super versatile, can handle high heat and last a really long time.

45 Comments

  1. Runningturtle10

    10/10 delicious but i did seem to have to put in a lot more flour like another cup would've liked it if it was listed in grams too on the video.

  9. Kristen Riddlestone

    I made these last night. They were amazing! I’ll always use this recipe. Making another batch today with a cheddar beer dipping sauce.

  10. Alexander Burawa

    Nice video. Kind of an unusual recipe/prep procedure. Kudos for not recommending the nasty and dangerous food-grade lye bath. Another great touch is your recommendation of mustard as a dip; just about any mustard will do, but my favorites are, in order of preference from best on down, grainy Bavarian mustard, spicy brown mustard infused with horseradish and authentic hot Chinese mustard. I'm not a fan of yellow mustard.

  20. Maya

    I’m wondering what would happen if we used bread flour instead of ap flour. I made these today and it came out wonderfully. I was skeptical!! Thank you!

  21. Lorie Ivanoff

    These look very good, & so delicious.. Can you please tell me please do I use a spray bottle to spray the dough before I roll the dough out? Mine falls apart. Please help. Learning how to cook

  23. J Bigs

    This recipe is fantastic. Came out great and delicious the first time. Just made again today, instead of the baking soda I opted to do a quick lye bath and they were that much better. I live in Philadelphia and these match any pretzel I can get here! Thank you for the guidance!

  25. Mike B.

    Fantastic recipe! Thank you so much. These were easy and delicious. I would have perhaps preferred a bit more salt and butter in the dough, mine came out a bit bland for my taste. We did make a wonderful beer cheese for dipping and that certainly helped. Will absolutely make again! Thank you

  28. Tito Torres

    Hey Chef, using lye (sodium hydroxide) is the absolute best for the look, the crust and the best classic pretzel taste. But there is a danger factor because lye is caustic and is dangerous to use and I understand lots of home cooks don’t want to bother with the danger factor of using lye, so a much safer baking soda trick for the home cook (safer than lye) that works way better than just putting baking soda in boiling water and gets much closer in look, crust and taste to the lye version than the baking soda version is to bake the baking soda first. That transforms the sodium bicarbonate of baking soda to sodium carbonate which is much more alkali than baking soda and gives a much better result.

    Just lay out baking soda on a foil-lined baking sheet and spread the baking soda on the pan in a layer, however much you want to use (you may want to make a bunch for future use). Then bake it at 250 degrees for an hour and let cool then it’s ready to use in your recipe and also store for further use (if you made extra). Then just follow the same boiling technique you do with baking soda. It produces a more superior product in the end compared to baking soda and closer to what you’d get with lye but safer than lye because you create a stronger alkali in the oven than what baking soda is naturally, but not one that is as strong and dangerous as lye.

    Give it a try.

  29. NinaNina

    "These pretzels are making me thirsty!!!" 😉 Except the cinnamon & sugare ones 😄

  30. NinaNina

    Thanks Billy! Today I had lunch with work colleagues and we all had sweetpotato and 'I-do-not-know-what-else-soup' with coconut cream, it was excellent, so delicious, though the reason I am here now is because said delicious soup was served, not with bread as one would expect, but with soft pretzels with butter and OMG it was so delicious. So since a couple of hours ago I was determined to make pretzels at home. I've never made pretzels and to be honest I've been scared of that baking soda bath procedure, but this tutorial has giving me confidence and also from reading other succesful stories here in the comments. Thank you and I will try this over the weekend. Thanks chef

  32. Michelle

    Novice baker here. Everything was fine until it came to dropping in boiling water. The shape fell
    Apart and trying to get it out of the water the shape was even worse. The first few were pretty bad but some came out ok. After cooking they were too doughy and seemed still too moist. I’m sure I did not cook enough. Made a huge mess in the kitchen. The dough looked beautiful but totally stuck to granite countertops I had to flour each piece as I rolled it. And wound up throwing them away. :(.
    Not a you problem. A me problem I’m sure. I did have fun attempting but doubt I’ll try this again. Such a mess.

  38. Maryse Okley

    Every Thursday… it's outdoor markets in most parts of France! & Nothing beats 1 or 2 salted pretzels w/ a beer sitting en plein air…. ( Side walk cafe

  39. Applausitivity

    This recipe is great and turned out amazing! I have a problem, though. After my first batch, I kept the dough refrigerated for 2 days and today and decided to make more. When I was rolling it out it kept tearing. Might you know why? Thanks!

  41. Yael Mechlowitz

    Thank you! These pretzels turned out amazingly!! How do you store them ? I stored mine for a day in an alright container and they became all soggy and the salt had been absorbed into the bread – is there any reason for the is ? Also can they be frozen ?

  43. Maria Ryabinski

    Ah, why did I try to cook it? This is a great and easy recipe. I can't stop eating now. I will definitely repeat it tomorrow and on other days. Thank you. I'm subscribing to your channel😊 3/4 cup of baking soda is it around 180 grams?

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