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Homemade Pretzels
The best homemade soft buttery pretzels are even better than the pretzels you find at the mall. All of the tips and tricks for making the perfect homemade soft 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:
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Buttery Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Video
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would LOVE to hear how these Buttery Soft Pretzels turn out for you!
Happy Baking! xo
I’ve been making these for about three years now. They always turn out great (except the time I used old yeast!). I bring them to parties with cheese dip (cutting them in pieces with kitchen shears works well). It is really a great recipe with any flour. Most recently I’ve used King Arthur bread flour and they’re maybe a hint better but really very good no matter what!
These pretzels were magnificent! My word! I will forever use this recipe! Thank you so much! We ate all of them before they could even cool!!!!
Made these today cuz I was craving a soft pretzel from my old gas station I’ve moved away from. They are amazing! Definitely a hit in my house.
THE BEST PRETZELS! So easy to make!
I’ve been baking all my life. Since I’ve found your website I’m so great full for many of your recipes. They are easy and very good. The French bread recipe you have is much easier to make and so good, and the pretzels on my. I have sent your web address to many of my friends that are still around and bake and my children, grandchildren and one great-grandson. He loved food and bread so he will be baking soon with me. Everyone should know about you. From one old lady that’s baked all her life you’ve made my life so much easier. Thank you
It was perfect👌 Thank you, definitely will do again 🙂
Made dough last nite but wouldn’t stretch so put it in fridge & made them this morning! Came out perfect!
Thank you, I will never use any other recipe besides this one!!
Leyanne
I seen this recipe on Pinterest.Very simple instructions, I didn’t use my stand mixer I just kneaded for 5 minutes. The pretzels came out undoubtedly delicious. The pretzels came out crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Great recipe for beginners.
Would definitely make these pretzels again.
So happy to hear it, Nancy! I am so glad that they turned out good. I love that crunchy and chewy contrast, it’s what makes them so delicious! Thank you so much for trying out my recipe!
Very easy to make and my 2 littles had fun rolling them out and shaping them. They were quickly devoured by all of us, thanks for a great recipe!
I just saw this on TikTok! My kids and I are gonna try it. 🙂 What is the dip you show at the end of the video?
I’m not sure what happened with this recipe, but the dough came out SO sticky. So much so that it was impossible to divide it, let alone roll it. We ended up dropping spoonfuls into the water and ended up with pretzel “chunks”. The flavor was great, but wondering if anyone else has had this issue.
Recipe was followed exactly. Thought about adding more flour but wasn’t sure if that would mess up the dough, so we made do with what we had.
Hiya Kate
I tried the recipe as is (using 3 cups of all purpose flour) and it turned out dry and horrible.
So i did a second batch and still dry, so added a touch of water to the dough and it came out horrible and sticky like you mentioned above.
The third time, i reduced to 2 cups of AP flour and it worked a treat!
Could your water to flour ratio be water heavy?
Im in NZ, so my yeast pkt could have been a bit off/diff to OP’s recipe.