Homemade Pretzels
Warm, buttery, soft, and fluffy pretzels are carb heaven.
I used to think that homemade pretzels had to be difficult to master. I had no idea how easy there are to make! I am sharing with you all of the tips and tricks to making buttery, soft pretzels at home. You don’t need fancy equipment or a huge list of ingredients but just a few special techniques.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT BUTTERY, SOFT PRETZELS AT HOME:
- Let your yeast work for you. Yeast can be finicky so it’s important to let it begin to foam up. Warm water is essential — not too hot or it will kill the yeast and not too cold or it won’t get it to work. Warm water, around 110 degrees, does the trick. Yeast loves sugar so by adding honey or a touch of sugar to the yeast, it helps to activate it even more. Do you know what kills yeast? SALT. That is why we add the salt after the yeast has worked for at least 10 minutes.
- Bread flour has a higher amount of gluten which will produce a chewier pretzel. I have used both all-purpose flour and bread flour in these pretzels and even though both work well, the bread flour is slightly superior.
- Dipping the pretzels in boiling water + baking soda helps to create it’s texture, flavor, and appearance. It helps to create the chewy texture and golden brown appearance.
- Baking at high heat helps to keep the pretzel shape and create a golden brown masterpiece.
- An egg wash gives it a shiny crust.
- Coarse salt gives it the salty flavor and melted butter makes it sinfully good.
Rolling the pretzels are important. Cut into 6-8 pieces and roll each strip into a 20-inch long rope. Follow the photos below and shape each rope into a pretzel shape.
I love my Bosch for making bread and these homemade pretzels are no exception!
BOSCH PACKAGE DISCOUNT DEAL
Y’all know that I love a good deal. I wanted to share with you my experience with Bosch and to give you a GREAT deal. They are offering a limited time offer which includes not only a Bosch mixer but the entire Bakers Package and Ice Cream Maker. Here are all of the details:
- 1 pkg. Active Yeast 2 1/4 teaspoons
- 1 cup Warm Water about 110 degrees
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 3 cups Bread Flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- Water
- 3 Tablespoons Baking Soda
- 1 Egg beaten
- 6 Tablespoons Butter
- Coarse Salt
- In a small bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Let start to work and activate for 10 minutes. Stir in honey.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour and salt. Stir in activated yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, knead for about 5-6 minutes.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. After it has doubled in size, punch the dough and let rise again for 45 minutes.
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Pour 6 cups of water into the 12-inch skillet and add baking soda. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Divide the dough into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on how large you want your pretzels to be. Roll each piece into a 20-inch long rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel shape.
- Using a slotted spoon, gently place the pretzels into the boiling water for 45 seconds.
- Remove the pretzels with a slotted spoon and drain well. Place onto the Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, beat egg to make an egg wash.
- Brush egg wash over pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake for 11-15 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden brown.
- Generously brush with melted butter on all sides.
I would LOVE to hear how these Buttery Soft Pretzels turn out for you!
Happy Baking! xo
Will be using your recipe for my Food Science class. Wish you had a print button so I could print just the recipe.
Hi Karen! Thanks for trying them out in your Food Science class. That was my favorite class of all time in school. There is a PRINT button for your convenience. When you are looking at the recipe, there is a SAVE button and a PRINT button, right below the photo. Click the PRINT button and a box should appear giving you options such as how many you would like to print. Let me know if you have any issues. Thanks so much!
This is my go to pretzel recipe! They turn amazing every time! Thank you so much.
These are delicious! I had to make a second batch the day after I made the first because my family devoured them so quickly!! Thanks for sharing!
I am so late responding to this comment but just want to thank you for it, Holly. I appreciate it and am so glad you loved them! — Melissa
The ingredients list says ‘Instant Yeast’, but the directions are for ‘Active Yeast” which consists of 2 rises. Would you be able to confirm which one you used in your recipe? Thank you and I can’t wait to make these!
Hi Tanya! I use active dry yeast in my recipes. I hope that helps! I hope you love the pretzels.
I just made these pretzels and they are delicious!! Thank you for sharing!!
HOLY COW, I just made these and they were fantastic! My kids loved them! Yum!!!!
I made them with homemade stone-ground, whole wheat flour and they were just wonderful. Thank you!
Melissa! These are amazing and sooooo easy to make! I have been having so much fun getting into your brain just a tiny bit as I’ve started making your recipes! Your directions are always detailed enough for me to follow and understand why things work the way they do and turn out so well. The cold cubed butter in the cookies, the boiling soda water in the pretzels….etc! You are so helpful and make me feel like I actually know how to bake! Thx so much! I plan to make these over and over and am even dreaming of having a pretzel bar party just to have an excuse to make these for a crowd!
Do you flip the pretzels in the soda bath?
Super duper yummy! And easy! I stuffed some with salami and they were pretty good, too. But they got a little tough because I worked the dough more, I guess. The original version was amazing though!
Wow PERFECT!!! First time ever making pretzels and really any type of bread and they came out perfect!!! Everyone in my house ate one and they are already gone! This would be so fun with Beercheese for Octoberfest!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Thank you
Hi Stacey! I use salted butter in the pretzel recipe since it gives the dough extra flavor. I hope that helps! Thanks so much!
Thank you
My first time making pretzels and they were a hit. Delicious. Will make again!
These were by far the best soft pretzels I’ve ever made and ate! When baking these the house smelled so good. They taste great look beautiful and worth the effort put into these. Thank u for sharing I will be making these weekly. Big hugs
Based on your recipes, I feel like we’d be friends! Your pretzel recipe heals my soul. You are a genius. Thank you for sharing!
We would definitely be friends! 🙂 I am so happy you love them! They are my weakness, without a doubt. Have a great weekend! — Melissa
They turned out great!
I wasn’t expecting the dough to be so sticky though… I almost added more flour, and I’m glad I didn’t.
The second rising period made them perfectly light and fluffy!
Hi! Love your recipe! I’m Making them For the third time but I want to prep them the night before, should I do the second rise the night before or morning of??
These pretzels came out AMAZING! I have a tendency of screwing up on directions somewhere somehow, but that didn’t happen to me in this recipe! I like how you covered all the bases to making the /perfect/ pretzel. This is going to be a new regular baking item for me. 🙂 Paired with nacho cheese, this was easily as good as the best pretzels I’ve ever had.
YUM!!! These are so good! They remind me of the pretzels that are often sold in malls, and even so much better! My husband doesn’t even like pretzels, and he had two of these while singing their praises! A hit with our whole family.
I made these yesterday. I got two lines into the process and decided I needed to double the recipe. I am so glad I did! We will definitely be making these again, because they are so tasty.
I’ve been wanting to make soft pretzels for years. When I found your recipe, it seemed pretty simple…and, it was.
Now, I’ve made them twice and totally love them. I make this recipe into 8 pretzels and skip the butter at the end. I like mine with cheddar cheese dipping sauce, my husband likes them with mustard.
Between my husband and me, all 8 are usually gone in 24 hours.
I will be trying other recipes soon.
I’d like to make these for a camping trip but not sure how good they’d be if made ahead. They are so good fresh out of the oven. Any suggestions?
First recipe with my new Kitchen Aid mixer…these were amazing! Thanks for an easy recipe that made such delicious pretzels.
OMG, these are so good, chewie and butterlicious! My husband loves them and I will be keeping this recipe to make again and again.
Can I use rapid rise yeast instead? How would that change things? (Baking novice sorry!)
Wondering what would happen if either the first or the second rise were longer than the recipe calls for. I’m trying to time these for a Super Bowl party, but I have some commitments during the day that conflict with the prescribed timing.
I’ve read that the longer the rise time, the more flavor.
WOW Excellent! Just made the first of many batches. Thanks.
Can I use instant yeast in substitute for active? And if I did what would I have to do, does anything change? Sorry I’m new to baking with yeast 🙁
This recipe turned out great! I highly recommend it! very soft, buttery, and a ton of flavor. Will be making them again next week too!
These are delicious! We only had all-purpose flour but they turned out great!
Can sourdough starter discard be used in this recipe in place of something else? I have some that I don’t want to go to waste! Thanks!