Okay, brace yourself.
The recipe I am about to share with you is INCREDIBLE!
Ask anyone who’s ever tried them.
People have even called me the “Pretzel Lady”. (I’m sure they’ve even called me the “Beautiful Pretzel Lady” and the “Unbelievably Intelligent and Witty Pretzel Lady” behind my back.)
I used to sell these at our local farmers market each week. On my best week, I sold over 100 of them in less than 17 minutes (yes, I timed it).
Okay, so here is the recipe and the step by step tutorial on how to make Laura’s Amazing Soft Pretzels:
Ingredients:
1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
butter
salt
(You can make these with white flour and white sugar if you want to have a delicious mound of empty calories…but I have found that using these healthier ingredients does not make us like these pretzels any less!)
Okay, here are the directions for preparing the pretzels that are to die for:
In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.
Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan.
Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees.
Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir.
Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)
Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.
And it should look like this:
Pull it out of the bowl and knead it a few times to get the air out. (Sorry, no picture of that process…my picture takers were out of the room.)
Pull a ball of dough, about the size of your fist off and get ready to make your very first pretzel! (such a proud moment)
Roll it into a long snake.
Then do this:
Then twist it again to look like this:
Then pick up the ends and pull them down to the bottom. (And please make no snide remarks about my blueish, boney hands. It is always a little cold in my house and my hands are never quite warm AND I inherited my Nana’s boney hands and I know my Nana would have never allowed her hands to be put on a blog while she lovingly told you how to shape a pretzel because she was ashamed of her boney hands, but I’m okay with it. I’m not embarassed at all. Not one bit.)
And then, it should look like this. And if it doesn’t, just undo it and try again. By the time you get to the end of shaping your big blob of dough into pretzels, you’ll have the hang of it and be able to talk on the phone, make a grocery list, check your email, tie someone’s shoe AND shape a pretzel, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
I forgot to take a picture of a pan full of unbaked pretzels. So, after you shape each pretzel, put them on a cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan.
Right when you take the pretzels out of the oven, slather them with butter. Lay it on thick. Don’t hold back.
Then sprinkle salt over them.
And, if at all possible, eat one right out of the oven. They are good two days later too, but OH MY GOODNESS, you HAVE to eat one right out of the oven!
With a glass of milk.
And if you really want to have fun, shape some into hearts for Valentines Day!
Whenever I want to make a special treat for my family, this recipe always works for me!
Check out more Works For Me Wednesday here!
Hey, you wanna take the NO SUGAR Plunge with me? I’m just trying to get a handle on eating sugar around here! Come read about it!
Hadias says:
Thank you for posting this tutorial. I am always on the lookout for new recipes.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:13 am
jayme says:
Ok…I am SOOOO excited about the sharing of this recipe. Soooooooo excited. And can I just say that your step by step pictures are awesome…and I am so impressed and glad and I will have my laptop on one counter…and the pretzel dough on another counter.
Ok…great job witty and intelligent and beautiful pretzel maker. What i wouldn’t give by the way…to have the bony hands on a pretzel maker. Instead of …. chunky ate tooooo much sugar and drank tooo much pepsi for toooooo many years before I noticed hands.
And by the way…I looked longinly at the cinnamon sugar too shake all over my toast this morning…but I resisited.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:22 am
amber m. says:
You’re AMAZING! Thanks for the great tutorial!
February 13th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Char says:
Yay - I had this recipe at one time, and then lost it. I love having it with PICTURES! But wait, are we allowed to eat these on the “no-sugar” plan? Honey is ok, right?
I’m off to make something healthy for breakfast.
February 13th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Cocoa says:
Oh, oh YUM! I absolutely love, adore, crave soft pretzels. It’s right up there next to chocolate and that’s saying a lot! I’ve tried several recipes over the years but never one that is just right. Thank goodness this one seems to be “it”. Thank you!
February 13th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Tiffany says:
Those look really yummy! I have always been afraid of baking bread products from scratch, but I may have to try these. Thanks for sharing!
February 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Tana says:
MMM how about a little SUGAR on top???
Okay, that was the addiction talking.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Heffalump says:
I am going to make these today!
February 13th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
mckenzi says:
ah! Fabulous! Inspiring!
February 13th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Devildogwife says:
These looks sooooo good. It’s been a long time since we’ve had soft pretzels. Ugh! I really need to find a good gluten free version of this recipe. Yum!!
February 13th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Hopefulmom says:
Perfect timing for Valentine’s Day! I made a batch of these today and they are delicious! I twisted them as you said, then I pinched the bottom to make a point. They look like hearts and are a gift for my hubby.
I made some with salt and some with cinnamon/sugar. Scrumptious!!!
Thanks for sharing!
February 14th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Michelle at Scribbit says:
I think I may have to give those a try today. Wouldn’t the kids just love me if I presented them with those for an after school snack?
And yours turned out so pretty too!
February 14th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says:
Oh goodness! These look so good! I’ll have to try them here sometime during Lent with my kids!
February 14th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Melissa Markham says:
These look so very awesome!
February 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am
CanadianSaver says:
Love the step by step instructions… These look so good and easy to make
February 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Tiffiney says:
So glad I bumped into your site, have copies allot of recipes..thanks for posting them. Looking forward to making them!
October 27th, 2008 at 4:15 pm