A soft, homemade pretzel just like the ones you buy at the mall!
This has nothing to do with pretzels but why does Parenthood have to be on a month long break?! I think it might have something to do with the winter olympics now that I think about it but I’m dying! Any of you watch that show?
So I got this recipe from my good friend, Angela Henrie 5 years ago! Actually, my sister-in-law, Lisa made these one Sunday and I had to know where she got the recipe. I used to baby-sit Angela’s adorable kids. Seriously, where has the time gone. Angela is so creative and talented. I’m talking, Madonna purchased one of her necklaces, talented!
This is probably the most requested recipe when we visit my in-laws in Utah. My brothers-in-law go crazy over these! When I told my husband we were having these for dinner the other night he was so happy. These pretzels are pretty simple to make but I will say, they make a little bit of a mess. But no one is going to complain about a messy kitchen when they walk into a house that smells like the pretzel counter at the mall! So go ahead and make these for dinner. Your family won’t mind I promise!
Don’t worry if your pretzels don’t look perfect. I know mine never do 🙂
I will sometimes make a 1/4 of the batch cinnamon/sugar pretzels. Gotta have dessert right?! My cousin made these and dipped them in a white chocolate sauce. Gonna have to ask her what recipe she used.
Soft Pretzel {Bites}
Author: Adell Goff
Recipe type: Appetizer
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 package active dry yeast or 2¼ teaspoons
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 2¼ cup all purpose flour
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- ⅓ cup baking soda
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt or kosher salt
Instructions
- Warm the milk in a saucepan or microwave to about 110 degrees. (I usually just use a finger test. You don't want it too hot or it will kill the yeast. Just a nice warm temp that doesn't hurt your finger.) Pour the milk in to a medium sized bowl or your mixer bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it soften, about 2 minutes then stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup of flour.
- Dice 2 tablespoons of the butter into small pieces and soften it (don't melt it!) Stir the butter into the mix. Add the remaining 1¼ cup flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead or just knead it in the mixer if you have one (use the bread hook). You want a smooth dough but still slightly tacky. Knead for about 5 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or spray with cooking spray. Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups of water in a shallow baking dish (I use a 8x8 pan). Set pan by the prepared baking sheet.
- Punch the dough and then turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces.
- If you want to make 6 pretzels: Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands (using flour if necessary) into a 24-30 inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.
- If you want to make pretzel bites: Roll and stretch each pieces into a rope but instead of shaping into a pretzel, cut the ropes with a pizza butter into the desired size of bites (about 2 inches is what I usually do).
- Gently dip each pretzel or pretzel bite in the soda solution, then arrange on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. (If you are doing cinnamon/sugar bites, don't add the salt)
- Bake until golden, 8-10 minutes for bites, 10-12 minutes for pretzels. While they are baking, melt the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter in a shallow dish (I use a pie pan). Set it next to a cooking cooking rack.
- Dip the warm pretzels in the melted butter then place on a wire rack to let excess butter drip off.
- If you are making cinnamon/sugar bites: roll the bites in a bowl of cinnamon/sugar mixture after you dip it in the butter. (about 1 cup sugar and 3 T. cinnamon or personal preference)
- Serve the pretzels warm with mustard or we like cheddar cheese sauce. Sprinkle with additional salt if needed. Makes about 60 pretzel bites or 6 pretzels.
Notes
The baking soda mixture is what makes the pretzels turn the golden color. Although you could skip the last butter bath, I highly recommend it! I promise it's worth it! And if I am making these for a bigger group, I usually triple the batch.
Recipe Source: Food Network Magazine via Angela Henrie
I am wondering why Parenthood is on such a break..love that show..
Just wanted to tell you..our daughter made these for a party we were at last night and they disappeared in a flash.Delicious:)
Thanks..I have Piinned them now also..
Thanks for pinning and sharing! So glad they were a hit at the party 🙂
Seriously the Olympics are ruining my life because they are stopping Parenthood (and Revenge) from coming on! I am very very excited to make these delicious little bites! Thank you for the recipe!
Katy
earningourstripes.org
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the pretzels! I hope Parenthood comes back next year. I heard they may not sign them on for another season 🙁
I made these for the second time just now. WE LOVE THEM! However, I messed up this time and added all 8 tablespoons of butter to the dough. I knew the dough was too sticky, but wasn't sure why. I just added more flour and proceeded. When I got further in the recipe, I realized what I had done. By the way…..they are AWESOME with four times the amount of butter than called for!
Good to know! I do feel like more butter is always better! So happy you love them! Thanks for sharing!
My dough turned out super loose. It was more like a batter than a dough. I triple checked the recipe and found that I didn't make any measurement mistakes, but I did use granulated (white) sugar instead of brown. I added a lot of extra flour until it was more dough-like and now it's rising. Any idea why the dough was SO soft?
It is a really soft dough. Not exactly like bread dough. It shouldn't be too sticky though. The sugar could have something to do with it, but I can't say for sure. I hope they turned out ok! Let me know if the extra flour helped!
They turned out wonderfully! I made bites, though, not the full sized pretzels.