Indulge in the delightful world of homemade pretzels, a classic bakery treat that combines a crispy exterior with a soft, chewy interior. These twisted delicacies hold a special place in culinary history, originating in Europe and captivating taste buds worldwide. With this comprehensive guide, you'll embark on a culinary journey to create mouthwatering pretzels in your own kitchen. Discover the secrets behind the perfect dough, explore variations such as soft pretzels and pretzel bites, and impress your loved ones with a selection of delectable dipping sauces. From traditional Bavarian lye pretzels to American-style soft pretzels brushed with butter and sprinkled with salt, this article presents a range of recipes catering to diverse preferences. Whether you're a seasoned baker or just starting your culinary adventure, let's delve into the art of crafting homemade pretzels that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving more.
Here are our top 6 tried and tested recipes!
SOFT HOMEMADE PRETZELS
Fun to make.
Provided by Pam English
Categories Bread Yeast Bread Recipes Pretzel Recipes
Time 1h40m
Yield 12
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Stir yeast into 1 cup warm water in a large bowl; beat in flour, sugar, shortening, and salt to make a dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.
- Place dough into a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide into 12 equal-size pieces. Roll each piece into a rope 18 to 20 inches long.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
- Shape each rope of dough into a pretzel on the prepared baking sheet; let pretzels rest for 5 minutes. Beat egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and brush yolk mixture over each pretzel; sprinkle each with coarse salt.
- Bake in the preheated oven until pretzels are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 158 calories, Carbohydrate 30.4 g, Cholesterol 17.1 mg, Fat 1.8 g, Fiber 1.2 g, Protein 4.4 g, SaturatedFat 0.5 g, Sodium 676.4 mg, Sugar 2.2 g
HOMEMADE PRETZELS
These pretzels are crisp on the outside and chewy inside. They rival many of the hot pretzels found in stores.-Suzanne McKinley, Lyons, Georgia
Provided by Taste of Home
Categories Snacks
Time 40m
Yield 20 pretzels.
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add flour and salt; stir to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 4-5 times. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. , Punch dough down and divide into 20 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 15-in. long strip; twist into a pretzel shape. Combine baking soda and cold water; brush over pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt. , Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition Facts :
HOMEMADE HARD PRETZELS
Provided by Alton Brown
Time 3h25m
Yield 36 pretzel sticks
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Combine the warm 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, 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 sides 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 350 degrees F.
- Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
- Place enough water into a large roasting pan to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the pan and bring to a boil over high heat.
- In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 1-ounce portions, approximately 36 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 14 to15-inch long stick and place on the sheet pans, 1/4-inch apart. Cover the dough not being used with a slightly damp towel to help prevent drying out.
- Gently place 6 to 8 pretzels at a time into the water for 30 seconds. Remove the pretzels back to the sheet pan, brush with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until golden brown in color and hard, approximately 55 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS
Now that I'm home full-time, I like to make all kinds of breads for meals, family gatherings and just for fun with my daughters, Lindsay and Mariah. Both girls love to help when it comes to making bread, especially kneading the dough. This is one of their favorite recipes.
Provided by Taste of Home
Categories Snacks
Time 1h5m
Yield 32 pretzels.
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, butter and egg. Stir in 3 cups of flour; mix until smooth. Add enough additional flour to make a stiff dough. Cover bowl tightly with foil; refrigerate for 2-24 hours. , Punch dough down and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, cut each half into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-in. rope. Shape into the traditional pretzel shape and place on a greased baking sheet. , In a small bowl, combine egg yolk and water; brush over the pretzels. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 25 minutes. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until brown.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 122 calories, Fat 2g fat (1g saturated fat), Cholesterol 17mg cholesterol, Sodium 165mg sodium, Carbohydrate 23g carbohydrate (3g sugars, Fiber 1g fiber), Protein 3g protein.
BAKED HOMEMADE PRETZELS
Make and share this Baked Homemade Pretzels recipe from Food.com.
Provided by Crafty Lady 13
Categories Lunch/Snacks
Time 30m
Yield 12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Put the yeast in a small bowl with the water and honey. Stir a little, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix the flour and salt together in a medium-size bowl. After the 5 minutes is up, check on the yeast mixture. It should be bigger than before and a little bubbly. Add this mixture to the flour and salt mixture. Stir everything together. Use a spoon to start. Finish with your hands. The dough is ready when it's still a little crumbly and flaky.
- Put the dough on the cutting board and knead it like you are playing with clay. Knead it into one big ball. Break off a piece of dough that's about the size of a large gumball. Use your hands to roll it into a skinny snake. Twist the rolled dough into a medium-sized pretzel shape, and put it on a cookie sheet. Do this with all the dough, making 12 pretzels.
- Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly before biting into them.
- Tip: If you like, you can sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt before baking them.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 58.8, Fat 0.2, Sodium 194.8, Carbohydrate 12.4, Fiber 0.6, Sugar 1.5, Protein 1.8
HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS
There's no two ways about it - I am a pretzel addict. I love pretzels and in my days of working as a flight attendant, would plan my layovers so that I'd have time to hit up one of the soft pretzel stands at the airport! So it came as a wonderful surprise when I tasted this recipe and realized that I like these pretzels BETTER...
Provided by Jess Weible
Categories Other Snacks
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- 1. Combine the water, sugar, & kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter.
- 2. Using dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Knead dough until its smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl. 4-5 minutes. Remove from bowl and place in a metal or glass bowl slightly oiled with vegetable oil. Cover and let sit in a warm place for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size.
- 3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchament paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil. Set aside.
- 4. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a roiling boil in a large saucepan.
- 5. In the meantime, turn dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into about 16 twenty-four inch ropes. (if you want to make regular shaped pretzels at this point: make a U shape with the rope, holding ends of rope, cross them over each other and press into the bottom of the U.) Or you can cut the ropes into 2 inch nuggets.
- 6. As you work place the nuggets or pretzels on your parchament baking sheet and (for the regular pretzels, place 1 by 1 into the boiling water for about 30 seconds) for the nuggets, I placed about a whole rope's worth in the water at the same time. 30 seconds, remove from water with a large slotted spatula and return to one of your baking sheets.
- 7. Brush the top of each pretzel or nugget with your egg wash mixture and sprinkle with salt. (Cinnamon sugar is good too!!) Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12-14 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes prior to serving.
Tips:
- Use Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, which results in a chewier pretzel.
- Activate the Yeast Properly: Before adding the yeast to the dough, make sure it is active and bubbly. To do this, dissolve the yeast in warm water (105-115°F) with a pinch of sugar and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Knead the Dough Well: Kneading the dough develops the gluten and makes it elastic, resulting in pretzels that hold their shape. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.
- Let the Dough Rise Twice: Rising the dough twice allows the yeast to develop and produce carbon dioxide gas, which creates the characteristic air pockets in pretzels. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size. After shaping the pretzels, let them rise again for 30 minutes before baking.
- Boil the Pretzels Before Baking: Boiling the pretzels in a baking soda solution before baking gives them their characteristic chewy crust and golden brown color. Make sure the baking soda solution is boiling before adding the pretzels, and boil them for 30-60 seconds per side.
- Bake the Pretzels Until Golden Brown: Bake the pretzels in a preheated oven at 450°F for 10-12 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Keep an eye on the pretzels to make sure they don't overcook.
Conclusion:
Homemade pretzels are a delicious and rewarding treat that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. With a little time and effort, you can make pretzels that are just as good as, if not better than, the ones you buy from the store. So next time you're in the mood for a salty, chewy snack, give this homemade pretzel recipe a try. You won't be disappointed!
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