My sisters know exactly where this is coming from.
It’s a bit of an obsession I have. An obsession I indulge in…. exactly never.
Not because I don’t want to, or I have killer willpower, but because I have no choice.
We used to have a soft pretzel shop in the mall we usually shop in, and every time I was there I’d buy a salted pretzel with warm caramel sauce. The combination is one of the most incredible I’ve ever put in my mouth. Please tell me you’ve had a pretzel with caramel sauce.
But then the shop shut down, which was okay for a while, because there is a Wetzel’s Pretzels in the movie theatre just across the street from said mall.
Except 2 years and 2 months ago, we had a beautiful baby girl. And you can guess how many movies I’ve been to in the last 2 years.
Your guess is as good as mine, as I can’t even remember. One?
Would you believe I didn’t even order my pretzel.
So, when we were traveling to Florida on holidays this summer, we had a layover in the Chicago airport. There was a shop selling pretzels and caramel sauce.
So I thought to myself, since we’d just had lunch, “I’ll swing by and pick one up just before we board.”
Except that they boarded the airport one whole hour before take-off, because it was overbooked and I guess they wanted to figure out how many people they could squeeze on.
“That’s fine,” I told myself, “I’ll get one on our flight back when we stop at Chicago again.”
The day before we left to come back my sisters revealed to me that our layover was actually in Toronto on the way back, and not Chicago. There were not soft pretzels in Toronto. They were a little worried about how I was going to take the news.
So I knew when I got home that I had to make soft pretzels. I’ve had recipes pinned to my Breads and Muffins board for a long time now, but I was always intimidated.
There was no stopping me this time.
And you know what? They’re not actually hard! In fact, they’re totally easy, and they’re incredible, and they taste just like the soft pretzels from the mall. And my favourite part: the dough is made in the bread machine!
I’m sure you could easily make the dough in a stand mixer, as it’s only 4 simple ingredients, but the bread machine takes so much of the work and guessing out. The dough comes out soft and a little sticky, but you want it that way. If you add too much flour, the pretzels will be difficult to roll.
I divided the dough in half (the recipe was said to make 8 pretzels), and made 4 medium pretzels and 26 pretzel bites. They both baked in the same time and are both amazingly delicious.
And please serve them salted with caramel sauce. You won’t regret it.
*Stand Mixer/By Hand Instructions
Since making this bread machine recipe, I’ve also tried it in the stand mixer. To make in a stand mixer (or knead by hand): use warm water and combine with yeast and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit 5 minutes until slightly frothy. Add the flour and knead (with a stand mixer or by hand) until smooth, 3-5 minutes. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1-1.5 hours until doubled. Proceed with the recipe.
Homemade Soft Pretzels
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast original recipe uses active dry, so a swap would be fine
- 2 liters of water for boiling
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 2-3 tbsp melted butter
- salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Add water, flour, sugar and yeast to bread machine in order listed. Turn on the dough cycle. Check dough after 5 minutes to see if an additional tbsp of water or flour is needed for dough to come together.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- When dough cycle is finished, remove from bread machine. Divide into 8 pieces to make medium-sized pretzels, or tear off and roll small pieces into balls for pretzel bites.
- In a large pot, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Boil pretzels and pretzel bites for 15-30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel.
- Place onto greased baking sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes until golden brown.
- Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Serve warm with caramel or other sauce, or enjoy plain!
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Bobbg says
I MADE these yesterday, all by hand
I added enough bread flour to made the dough tough, meding the dough by hand and mixing by hand was a big workout, that being said I think you actully loose calories making them.
We also made a creamy home made chease sauce but you can make the Carmel yourself. The sadests part about this is there all gone now poor things didnt make it 24 hours.
I was going to make home made pizza
But you know the taste of the prestal dough gave me the idea this would make a great pizza with tomato sauce and turkey pepperoni
It would also be good for pulled bbq chiken and pineapple or ham and pineapple pizza dont know it its yummy. The BBQ chiken pizza sauce has BBQ sauce mixed in the pizza sauce. A sweet tangy flavor.
Calvers was selling a butter burger on a prestal bun you could make your own prestal burger buns. Or mix ham, pre cooked sausage or anything else into the dough to make prestal bites.
Even cheddar cheese in the centers.
Or marshrooms. The ideas are countless. Or Carmel centers for prestal balls. You can have a lot of fun with this kind of dough hotdogs on a stick with a prestal crust.
Ok enough im getting hungry.
Darn kids ate all the prestals.
Ashley Fehr says
Haha, I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Cathy says
Tried this recipe but dough was too sticky to shape. I added more flour but it became dry. Ugh will try again at a later date. Thanks!
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Cathy! It’s important to have a sticky dough when you go to shape the pretzels so that they stick together. What you will do is dust some flour on the counter and work with floured hands so that they can be formed easily.
Maria says
Wish the time on the top of the recipe included the time for the bread machine setting and rising.
Start to finish is not 30 minutes! Important for planning. Add one hour!
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Maria! Unfortunately the recipe card calculates prep time and cook time for the total time. It’s always a good idea to read through the entire recipe before beginning.
Veronica says
How long do the pretzels keep for?
Ashley Fehr says
You can keep for a few days at room temperature. I haven’t tried freezing them, though I’d guess that they would reheat beautifully in the oven!
Jocelyn@Brucrewlife says
Soft pretzels plus caramel sauce equals happy me!! (And soft pretzels with honey mustard, and ranch, and cinnamon… I have a problem! 😉 ) I totally need these in my life now! Pinned!
Ashley says
Thanks Jocelyn! You know, I’m not into many savory dips, but fresh, hot bread brushed with melted butter is good with pretty much anything!
Deb @ Cooking on the Front Burner says
Thanks for sharing with us at Best of the Weekend – I’ll be featuring these tomorrow night on my blog! Love soft pretzels!
Ashley says
Thanks Deb! I’ll have to remember to come stop by again 🙂
Nicki says
These look amazing! I’ll be featuring them on Pin Your Friday Favorite tomorrow (tshirtjeans. blogspot.com). Thanks for linking up!
Ashley says
Thanks so much Nicki!