Have you ever wanted to make soft, chewy, hot & fresh Soft Pretzels at home!? Today I’m walking you through all the steps so you can make your own golden homemade pretzels at home. If I can do it, you can do it!
Today we are tackling Soft Pretzels! You and I, together, we’ve got this.
For when you really want one of those salty, chewy, mall-style pretzels but you don’t want to change out of your comfy pants and actually go to the mall. Side note, does anyone actually go to the mall anymore? Or are we all just shopping online now? Or am I the only who doesn’t leave my house for fear of being asked by an associate if they can help me with anything?
Anyway, Soft Pretzels! Yes, they are made with a yeast-based dough. Yes, they require bread flour rather than our standard all-purpose flour (more on that below). Yes, they require a bath before we can bake them (more on that below, too). But while these things may sound a little foreign and scary, especially if you usually stick to cookies 🙋🏼, there’s actually nothing very complex about making pretzels, once you get down to it. The hardest part for me was just figuring out how to twist my dough into an actual pretzel shape.
Let’s get to it, and remember, for extra help you can always check out my step-by-step video at the bottom of the recipe (and leave me a comment with any questions!)!
The Best Flour for Making Soft Pretzels
I really recommend that you use bread flour rather than all purpose when making soft pretzels. Bread flour has a higher gluten content, which in this case yields softer and chewier soft pretzels than you could expect with all purpose flour.
With some recipes, you can get away with using all purpose flour in place of bread flour (I often do in my popular pizza dough recipe), but I really recommend using bread flour for this soft pretzel recipe.
How to Twist a Pretzel
It’s easier to show you than it is to explain in writing, but I’ll give it my best shot. Start by taking your rope of pretzel dough and form it into a “U” shape. Cross the ends over one another, then cross again (see first and second picture, below). Next take your crossed/twisted ends and fold them down over the bottom of the pretzel (third picture, below).
The Importance of a Baking Soda Bath
Before we can bake our soft pretzels, we have to give them a bath. A baking soda bath, to be specific. You’ll bring 8 cups of water and 1/4 cup (yes, cup) of baking soda to a boil in a large pot and boil each pretzel in this solution for 60 seconds. Yes, it’s extra work, but it’s going to help give our soft pretzels their shiny brown appearance and their chewy texture. It’s what’s going to make our soft pretzels actual soft pretzels!
It’s this brief alkaline bath that encourages your soft pretzels to brown more quickly and develop that crisp exterior and chewy interior. It’s what gives them their signature brown exterior. Traditional/professional soft pretzel makers often actually boil their pretzels in lye (which is much more alkaline) and some people like to bake their baking soda before boiling it to make it more alkaline. That’s a bit more time consuming and I’m perfectly happy with the brief baking soda bath I use here, but more power to you if you want to give that a shot!
Anyway, the moral of my rambling is: skip the baking soda bath and you’ll end up with pretzels that look and taste much more like pale, dull, twisted breadsticks (like a garlic-less Garlic Knot), and much less like glorious mall-style soft pretzels. If you’re a baking nerd like I am, you might find this article interesting, I thought it was an enjoyable read that also covered some of the science behind this process!
While I enjoy a good savory soft pretzel dipped in mustard, you probably won’ be surprised that at the mall I always go for cinnamon sugar pretzels instead. I included instructions in the notes below so you can make your own cinnamon sugar pretzels at home if you prefer sweet to savory, too (my people… 💜)!
Enjoy!
I hope you will check out my Soft Pretzel video at the bottom of the recipe! If you enjoy watching, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 100 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour plus additional as needed (375g+)
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar tightly packed
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant/rapid rise yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup hot water between 110-115F/43-46C
For rising/boiling/baking
- Olive or canola oil for bowl
- 8 cups water
- ¼ cup baking soda (yes that is correct, 1/4 cup)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 Tablespoon water
- Pretzel salt or coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Combine bread flour (3 cups/375g), brown sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer that’s been fitted with a dough hook. Stir until combined.
- Add melted butter and water and stir on low speed until completely combined. Continue to stir until a smooth elastic dough forms that clings to itself and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough should be slightly tacky but not unmanageably sticky. If needed, stir in additional bread flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time (I often need to add 1-2 additional Tablespoons).
- Lightly brush a large bowl with olive oil and place your dough ball into oiled bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and then place in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes/until doubled in size (the top of my oven is usually quite warm while preheating, so I’ll usually turn on my oven to 450F/230C at this point and place my dough on top).
- Preheat oven to 450F/230C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Once pretzel dough has finished rising, transfer dough to a clean, lightly floured surface and divide dough into 10 even pieces.
- Roll each piece of dough into a long thin rope (mine were about 20-24” long!) and twist into a pretzel shape (see photos in post [above] or demonstration in video [below] for example). It's easy to roll the dough between your palms while stretching. You may also roll it with your palms against a clean surface, don't flour the surface very much or it will be difficult to work the dough.
- Combine water and baking soda in a large deep dish (I like to use a Dutch oven) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, gently lower each pretzel into the boiling water/baking soda mixture. Boil for 30 seconds on each side then drain and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pretzels, spacing at least 1 1/2” apart.
- Whisk together lightly beaten egg and 1 Tablespoon water and brush over each pretzel. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt or pretzel salt, as desired (see notes for instructions on making cinnamon sugar soft pretzels).
- Transfer to 450F (230C) oven and bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven, allow to cool several minutes, then enjoy. Pretzels are best enjoyed warm the day they are made.
Video
Notes
To make Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels:
Do not top your pretzels with salt and bake as indicated. Meanwhile melt ¼ cup salted butter and stir together ½ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Once pretzels have finished baking, allow to cool for several minutes then brush generously with butter and sprinkle generously with cinnamon/sugar.Nutrition
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Marti says
Oy vey. No fault of your domestic goddessness, oh Guru of Yummy for Novices, I made a disastrous batch of soft pretzels yesterday. They were dense & tasted of a kind of flour paste (kicking myself). The first batch, a few weeks ago, were yummy yet barely shy of scorched. Yesterday I noticed the contents of my mixer were not feeling the love with my dough hook. The dough appeared very dry & in need of couples therapy with the hook.
I took the water’s temperature, followed the recipe you, our guru posted…all the foolproof ways to easily deliver carbs directly into my tush. Visually they pulled apart (not my tush – the pretzels) like a challah I love, but whoa! Yuck!
Again they started to overbrown on the bottoms & were not browning on the tops. I flipped them over for 2 minutes of the bake to get ‘er done, but grrrr! I’m frustrated as – you’re growing small ears & eyes; I’ll keep my cursing to a minimum. Did I kill the yeast? Water hotter than my thermometer & patience allowed? Was I distracted by my teen mutant sloth waltzing around the house au natural?
Mazel tov on your journey into parenthood! Baby Boy is going to be saturated with love. There’s nothing like holding them the first time.
Again MAZEL TOV!
Sam says
Oh no! I’m sorry the pretzels didn’t turn out (though I have to admit you have a way with words and your comment certainly made me laugh!). So your guesses are actually pretty similar to what I would guess (minus the mutant sloth!), but another thing that I think might be the case would be the oven temperature. You mentioned that your first batch was almost scorched and the second one browned too quickly so I’m wondering if maybe the oven is running much hotter than it is letting on. Do you have an oven thermometer to check the temperature of the oven? I once had an oven that consistently ran 25 degrees hotter than it “said”, and it tried to burn everything I ever made… frustrating! I’d also recommend keeping the pretzels in the center rack and not too close to the heating element. Since you mentioned that the dough was very dry I’m also wondering if maybe you could get away with using a bit less flour, maybe next time try with just 2 3/4 cup to start and add more as needed. With yeast doughs the flour never seems to be exactly the same and it’s more about judging by the texture of the dough rather than a particular amount of flour (which can be frustrating!).
I really hope this helps but am happy to try and help troubleshoot further. And thank you so much for the kind words about the baby, I am so excited to finally meet him!! 🙂
Lee Heintich says
I can not wait to use thìs recipe to make these wonderful pretźeĺs! Yum!
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you, Lee! I hope that you enjoy the soft homemade pretzel recipe. Let me know how they turn out. Enjoy! 🙂
John says
I am a HUGE fan of soft pretzels, have tried other recipes and not as good as ‘the mall’ or the German restaurant near me that charges $7 for one. This is an excellent recipe, I did try freezing a couple after the soda n water boil, I let them thaw for about 30 min then salted n baked they were good not as good as fresh but we still enjoyed.
Sam says
Thank you so much, John! I am so glad you enjoyed the soft pretzels so much! Thank you for your feedback regarding freezing them. 🙂
ryma says
Hi,
I have tried the pretzel recipe. It taste dyummy. I also made garlic cheese cream dip to accompanied the pretzel. It was great
However my pretzel surface is wrinkle. How do you make it smooth?
Thank you
Sam says
Ooo I love the sound of a garlic cream cheese dip! I am so glad you enjoyed the pretzels! 🙂
ryma says
By the way, my pretzel skin is very wrinkle. How do you manage to have yours so smooth?
Sam says
When I’m rolling the dough into “ropes” I make sure the ropes are smooth, then the pretzels come out smooth, too. I hope that helps!
ryma says
Can we refrigerate the dough over night and baked the pretzel the day after?
Sam says
I have not tried refrigerating the dough overnight so I can’t say for sure if it would work. If you try it, I would love to know how it goes for you. 🙂
Nancy Faye Rogers says
How long do the baked pretzels last after being baked? How should they be stored? Could you ever freeze the dough or final cooked pretzel?
I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Sam says
Hi Nancy! They are really best when served right away. If you wanted to save them for a few days and reheat them, they will still be ok, they just won’t be as good as if they were fresh. That being said, you could freeze either the dough or the final pretzel if you’d like. 🙂
Suzzette says
I’m also wondering at what point would be best to freeze for later use? So I can take them out a couple at a time for snack time.
TIA
Suzzette
Sam says
Hi Suzzette! That would really be a matter of preference. You could freeze the dough or the finished product. I would personally probably freeze the dough that way I can cook them nice and fresh, but it would probably be easier to freeze a final product and just reheat it. Either way should be fine. 🙂
Ginger says
Hi Thank you Your Adorable I am saving the recipe for the soft pretzels! 🥨
Sam says
You’re very welcome, Ginger! I hope you love them! 🙂
Jill says
Hi Sam, I was very excited to see you have a recipe to make soft pretzels and also doesn’t look difficult. Thank you for sharing. Love the ideas and recipes you share!
Sam says
You’re very welcome, Jill! I hope you love them! 🙂
Sarah says
Hi Sam! I had given up on making soft pretzels at home in the past because nothing was turning out, but saw this and gave it a try-WINNER! This will now be my only pretzel recipe I use. The video was a great help. I forgot to flip some of the pretzels after 30 secs and they all still turned out. After the boil, I stretched out a few of the pretzel spaces so they would have the loop space. A very popular hit in my home-made to go with a spaghetti dish (with your awesome marinara recipe). Thanks for sharing!!!!
Sam says
Ooo pretzels and spaghetti sound like an excellent pairing! I am so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Lynn Petersen says
Hi Sam! I’m excited to read your recipe on soft pretzels! I used to live on the East Coast and enjoyed the New York and Pennsylvania pretzels sold in the kiosks on the street. They were so good! I’m looking forward to trying this out myself as I love to bake! Day off today and it’s raining….perfect time for baking this recipe! Thanks again and I really enjoy your recipe blog. You have a great sense of humor and way of sharing your recipes that are not to complicated for us novice folks! 🙂
Sam says
Hi Lynn! I really hope you love this recipe just as much!! Rainy days are perfect for baking, we’re anticipating snow here on the East Coast (at least where I am) today and I’m making yet another batch of these pretzels here, too. Something about crummy weather that’s just right for baking 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate it <3
Tricina says
But… I like Cinnamon Sugar AND Raisin Pretzels. =P Would adding raisins affect cooking times? about how many cups of raisins would be good for this size recipe? Ill be trying this tomorrow. =)
Sam says
Hi Tricina! I don’t think it would affect the cooking time at all. How many raisins depends on your preference, I’d probably start on the low end with 1/2 cup then work up from there as desired. I hope that helps and I hope you love the pretzels!! 🙂
Kajm says
Hello Sam. I love reading your recepies. You are so cute. I’m really trying hard to make roti. Could you help..? I would also love a biryani recepies. Here in south africa we are a rainbow nation with rainbow appetites. Thanks a lot.
Sam says
Hi Kajm! I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes! I will add these recipes to my list to work on, since I’m not familiar with them I’m sure it will take quite a bit of time before I have a recipe that I’m confident enough in to share, though!
Kajm says
Thank you so much can I send u a picture of my cake I made for my son
Sam says
There isn’t a really good way to add pictures here. If you join my Facebook Group, you can add as many pictures as you’d like. 🙂
Mary says
Hi Sam! I can’t wait to try this. I have made your cinnamon rolls and your pizza dough and can’t wait to try these pretzels, I think they will be just as good!
Much love from FL – Mary
Jeanne Hanson says
Love you site and recipes. I just received the email for the soft pretzels. But YUCK! The ads that were posted between your lovely photos of the pretzels were of disgusting raw, cracked, scaly hands. Open wounds are not conducive to recipes.
Sorry to be fussy about this but it greatly detracts from your fantastic work!
Cheers!
Jeanne
Sam says
Hi Jeanne! I am so sorry about those ads. They are typically served base off of the cookies on your computer and I don’t have any control over that. If you ever see anything obscene or inappropriate, please let me know so I can contact my ad company, and if you want to send me a screenshot to my email (Samantha@sugarspunrun.com) I will ask my ad company to not show that one in the future, too. Thanks for letting me know about this, though, and I’m so glad you are otherwise enjoying the blog! 🙂