Making Homemade Soft Pretzels…Again…
By Laura on Apr 1, 2008 in Recipes, Works for Me Wednesday
Yes, I am aware that I have already posted this recipe and that MANY of you have told me how much you LOVE these pretzels!
But we were encouraged to re-post our favorite Works for me Wednesday post…and this is by far my favorite…for oh-so-many delicious reasons!
So now you can be re-encouraged to make these pretzels!! Here you go (again)…
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.
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!
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!
Whenever I want to make a special treat for my family, this recipe always works for me!
[tags]whole wheat soft pretzels, healthy treats, homemade breads[/tags]
I can’t wait to make these with my kids. They look so good.
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Ellen | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
They look delicious. We don’t have soft pretzels here, but I remember how yummy they were when I went to NY at age 9. I’ll have to try this one day when I have some spare time (ha ha ha!)
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Catherine | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
I’ve been hearing about these pretzels for EVER, and Jayme has promised to come make some for me after the baby gets here. I’m ready!!
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Sally | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
They look wonderful!
Do you not have to boil them for a min before baking? Those were the instructions from the recipe my dd used yesterday. Her’s turned out more like rolls or buns – you can’t really distinguish the pretzel shape.
Next time she wants to make some – I’ll have her come look at your demo.
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Edi | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
No, I don’t have to boil mine first. Therefore…they are a bit more like a roll or bun…but with butter and salt slathered over it. Oh my…I think I’ll be needing to make some of these today… I can’t stand to talk about them and not eat one…
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Laura | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
These look amazing. I’m gonna have to try this out!
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Britni | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
My kids are gonna love doing this. I can’t wait to try them out. I used to make homemade pretzels with my mom but I dont’ have the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
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Crystal | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
I am SO hungry right now, but I think it’s going to take too long to make these for breakfast! Maybe lunch?
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Char | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
OH YUM!!
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Linda | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Yum! Those look delicious!
Linds
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Linds | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Approximately how many does this recipe make? And how long do they keep? Can you freeze them?
Thanks!
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Melissa | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
This recipe makes about 24 ptetzels. They keep for a week or so in the fridge…and yes they freeze just fine. I just rewarm them in the oven for a few minutes, and they are great!!
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Laura | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
Oh my word, I cannot wait to try this recipe, thank you, thank you!!
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Org Junkie | Apr 8, 2008 | Reply
I just wanted to let you know, I heard back from one of the neighbors I took these to, and she said, “these are the best things I have EVER put in my mouth!” And they were! Thanks soo much for sharing the recipe!
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MC | Apr 16, 2008 | Reply
DO YOU HAVE ANY RECIPES THAT ALLOW YOU
TO ADD EXTRA INGREDIANTS? SUCH AS JALAPENOS
AND OR CHEESE?
GINGER
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ginger | May 3, 2008 | Reply
Have you ever just frozen the dough and baked later?
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Alexa | Jun 10, 2008 | Reply
these are so yummy! i tried them out and it was oh, so good!
i gave some to my co workers and they were hooked! they kept asking for more, but, alas, no baking this week!
thanks for the recipe! it was so good!
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joy | Jun 11, 2008 | Reply
I’m making some right now…I called my hubby to tell him what I was doing and he’s ready to come home from work right now to eat one!
A couple questions…
Is it ok if I use ww flour from a bag from the store? Will they turn out the same?
Do you ever need to add extra gluten to your baked goods to make them “stretchy?”
Do you use the whole/raw milk for these? I used skim…hope they turn out ok?!?!
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Julie | Jun 16, 2008 | Reply
Very easy to make and taste awesome love the honey useage!!!
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Hockeylovinggirl | Aug 10, 2008 | Reply
I looove pretzels & am so happy to find a recipe for whole wheat. Is there anything I can use besides butter??
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Barb | Aug 12, 2008 | Reply
I made these last night, so yummy!! My family loved them
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Misty | Aug 23, 2008 | Reply
I love these pretzels and i think they taste hevanly!
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Mikalia | Aug 23, 2008 | Reply
I wasn’t too happy with this recipe. They were really bland and nothing special- very dissappointed, as we used a half cup of our own harvested honey and it was wasted. I am going to try it with white sugar and white flour to see if it makes them better. We added cinnamon and sugar to help with the flavor, but the kids were still not excited about them. They said “it just tastes like bread”. Best keep trying…
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Sara | Oct 1, 2008 | Reply
i have seen a lot of homemade pretzel reciepes, but this one seems really god. im going to have to try it!
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Krista | Nov 8, 2008 | Reply
I am going to try this recipe, it looks really good. I will probably use it with salt and butter, I hope my kids love it.
Thank You So Much. God Bless.
Thanks. Jess
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Jessica | Dec 25, 2008 | Reply
I found this recipe yesterday and made half into pretzels and other other half into bread sticks. I’ve tried a lot of whole wheat recipes but so far this has to be a favorite both for how easy it is to make and how good it turns out. Tonight we doubled it and we are making 2 pizzas, a dozen dinner rolls and a dozen cinnamon rolls. My husband helped me make it because he likes it so much!
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Jen | Jan 24, 2009 | Reply
i made soft pretzel at my home-ec class once when i was a child and it was so good. i learned that you add two tablespoons of honey and no other soft pretzel recipe does that! and i came across this one and i’m like, oh this is it! so thank you very much.
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tae | Feb 14, 2009 | Reply
I made these yesterday and they came out wonderful. Thanks for the tutorial!! It was very clear and easy. I will definetly make these again. We used them for our Lenten pretzels!
Of course my boys made theirs into shapes of Godzilla (it’s all on my blog)..such fun!
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Josette | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
i’ve tried these pretzels a few times and they’re good. i don’t know if it’s because i used skim milk or not, but i found 2 1/2 cups of milk to be a bit too much. that may be because i don’t use much butter. i also found it better when you use a “measuring cup” with “lines” on it to measure out honey rather than measuring it with your eyes and thinking about the expenses. haha.
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tae | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
This recipie sounds soooo good! I can’t wait to make it!
I love pretzels so this will be very useful information.
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reese | May 31, 2009 | Reply