Description
Delicious homemade soft pretzels that are perfect for snacking or serving with cheese sauce.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup warm milk (whole milk recommended)
- 2–1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (or active dry—see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 to 4 cups bread flour (plus more for dusting surface, see note 2)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 to 7 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
- 8 cups water
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt (or make cinnamon-sugar pretzels with cream cheese sauce—see notes 3 and 4)
- Cheese sauce (optional, for serving, see note 5)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the warm water, warm milk, yeast, and honey; let sit 5–10 minutes until creamy/foamy. If not, restart.
- Combine 3 cups bread flour and salt in a stand mixer bowl. Make a well, add 1 tablespoon melted butter and yeast mixture. Mix on low speed, scrape sides as needed.
- Increase speed; if needed, add up to 3/4 cup more flour until dough pulls away from sides. If still sticky after 2 minutes, add last 1/4 cup flour.
- Knead for 5 minutes on low speed or by hand until shaped into a ball. Coat in cooking spray, cover, and let rise in a warm environment for 1 hour 30 minutes or until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a sheet pan with silicone mats or parchment paper. Punch down dough; cut into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a 20–22 inch rope and cut into pretzel shapes.
- Boil 8 cups water; add baking soda. Boil pretzel bites for 10 seconds each, then place on sheet pan.
- Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and brush over bites, sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 12–18 minutes until golden brown. Optionally brush with remaining butter after baking.
Notes
- Watch the tutorial video in this recipe post before starting!
- Ensure your yeast is active. If it doesn’t foam, the water was too hot or yeast is dead.
- If you want cinnamon-sugar pretzels, replace coarse salt with cinnamon-sugar.
- For serving, cheese sauce is optional.
- For extra buttery bites, brush with melted butter right after baking, adding more salt if desired.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: Snack
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pretzel
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 470mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 30g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 5g
- Cholesterol: 15mg