What you need:
- 1 1/2 c. warm water (100-115*F)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsps kosher salt
- 1 (1/4-oz) pkg active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil
- 10 c. water
- 2/3 c. baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp water
What you do:
In stand mixer bowl, combine water, sugar, and kosher salt. Sprinkle yeast on top and allow to sit for 5 min or until it starts to foam.
Attach the dough hook to the mixer and then add the flour and butter to the bowl and mix on low until ingredients are combined.
Increase speed to medium to knead dough until it's smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl (4-5 min).
Remove dough from bowl. Wash and dry bowl and grease it with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, covering it with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for 1 hour, or until the dough as doubled in size.***
Remove dough from bowl. Wash and dry bowl and grease it with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, covering it with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for 1 hour, or until the dough as doubled in size.***
Preheat oven to 450 and line two sheet trays with lightly oiled parchment paper (optional - I didn't do this, just used my non-stick Wilton cookie sheets).
Stir together the 10 c. water and baking soda in a large quart pot and bring to boil.
While water is coming to a boil, turn the dough on to the counter and divide into 12 equal pieces. (Do not flour the counter!)
Now roll out the 12 dough balls into long ropes and twist and double twist them over and press them to secure. (You could also just cut them into smaller pieces to have bite sized pretzels.) One by one, place each pretzel in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from the water and place on the baking sheet. When all have been boiled, beat egg yolk and water together and brush over each pretzel and sprinkle with kosher salt (I did half with salt and half with cinnamon sugar).
Bake until golden brown (12-14 minutes), rotating pans halfway through. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Thanks to Just a Taste for the recipe - find the original post here.
***Just a Taste offers the easiest solution for a warm, dark place for your dough to rise - your clothes dryer! Turn it on for a couple of minutes to let it warm up before placing the bowl of dough inside. Set your timer and in an hour you'll be ready to twist and bake!
***Just a Taste offers the easiest solution for a warm, dark place for your dough to rise - your clothes dryer! Turn it on for a couple of minutes to let it warm up before placing the bowl of dough inside. Set your timer and in an hour you'll be ready to twist and bake!
Note: Kosher salt isn't something I have in my spice cabinet, so I just used some sea salt. No, it's not the same, but still very good.
What's a soft pretzel without the dipping sauce?! The classic choice for a salted pretzel, and in my opinion the only choice, is a drippy cheese sauce. And for the cinnamon sugar pretzels, I'm mixing up a cream cheese dip (recipe below), but you could also pair them with a chocolate dipping sauce (also listed below), caramel sauce, or even some nut flavored chocolate spread.
Cream cheese dip
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together and then add the milk and vanilla extract. You can add more milk or powdered sugar to desired consistency.)
Chocolate dip
- chocolate candy melts
(Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Done!)
Happy baking!
