Making Homemade Soft Pretzels…Again…
ByYes, 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 cup water
2 Tablespoon yeast
2 teaspoon honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
4 teaspoon 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 think I made them wrong. Mine turned out absolutely disgusting and i’m usually a decent baker. The whole wheat taste of the flour was way too prevalent and they were a dark brown (even while uncooked) not a light golden brown like your pictures. Maybe I used the wrong sort of whole wheat flour?
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Laura Reply:
April 5th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
Oh dear…so sorry to hear that! I use whole wheat flour made from hard white wheat, but I know of others who use regular, store bought flour and it works fine for them. :( It could be that the flour you used was made from hard red wheat, which makes for a darker, heavier flour. I’m sorry these were a disappointment!
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Lisa G. Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
I made these this week using your recipe with my hard red spring wheat. They tasted delicious!!! But I halved the recipe…all except the butter! It was an accident, but a delicious one!!! I’ll definitely make them again :)
http://allthingsgale.blogspot.com/2011/09/butternut-squash-soup-and-soft-pretzels.html
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All I can say is YUMMY!!!! The boys and I just made these and they turned out WONDERFUL! I did a (very) few with salt and the rest with cinnamon and sugar. There was no way we needed a whole batch so I halved it and everything came out great. I got 17 out of a half batch and that’s perfect for us. Thanks so much for another great recipe! :)
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We had the greatest time making your pretzels today and my husband sings your praises. He said they were the best pretzels he’s ever eaten. The came out fantastic!!!!
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This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try the recipe. Just to make sure, a capital T stands for tablespoon and a little t stands for teaspoon right?
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Laura Reply:
May 20th, 2011 at 7:46 am
Yes, you got it right. I’ll go edit the post to be clear about that!
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Jeremy Reply:
May 21st, 2011 at 3:26 am
ty. :)
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I love these pretzels! I want to make a bunch for my freezer for a few busy weeks coming up. Would you freeze after you shape or after you bake? Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:41 pm
After you bake. Actually, I’ve never tried shaping then freezing. I would imagine that would work!
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This looks amazing, planning on trying it this weekend! Can I use Instant yeast? I normally use SAF, but have never put it directly into a liquid; and using it helps me speed up b/c I never let the dough raise twice.
So thankful a friend told me about this website! yippee for me!
blessings,
patti
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Laura Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Yes, I think instant yeast should work, I’m not sure though!
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I made these a few weeks ago and made the mistake of putting them in a container when they still had alittle warmth in them and the salt melted they were still very good, just wondering how you store them? We have a 4 day trip coming up in Door County Wisconsin and are bringing our own food, we will have a kitchen so wanted to make these to bring with along with quite a few other of you recipes. thanks for all the yummy food, I have been telling everyone to check out your site, its helping me to use better for us products.
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Laura Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I let the completely cool, then I put them in a ziplock freezer bag in either the freezer or the fridge.
Thanks for telling people about my site!! :)
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After freezing, do you just take them out to thaw on the counter and eat when thawed (and room temperature), or do you thaw and then heat them before eating?
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Laura Reply:
July 8th, 2011 at 6:59 am
I usually put them directly from frozen state onto a baking pan to reheat. It thaws them and reheats them quickly!
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I would like to try these but a smaller batch I’m worried about halfing the yeast and water. Do you have a 1/2 recipe that works?
I can’t wait to try your recipe. All the recipes I have tried so far are just bread sticks with salt. Thanks, Jan
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Laura Reply:
July 4th, 2011 at 10:59 am
This recipe will half just fine – I know people who have tried it successfully! Hope it works well for you!
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Is that cornmeal you’re kneading the dough on or flour? Does it matter?
~ Mark ~~~~~
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Laura Reply:
July 17th, 2011 at 6:11 am
I just knead it in flour, but I don’t think it would matter. :)
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Mark Reply:
July 17th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Thanks!
I used cornmeal, since I always have so much more of this verses flour, and they came out
absolutely, (like Tony the tiger says), …… GRRRRRREAT!!!
~ Mark ~~~~~~~
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Just made these! FABULOUSNESS!! I halved the recipe. Perfect! Thanks so much for this recipe. A keeper!
p.s. You have lovely hands :)
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I have just stumbled across this site! i intend to make these asap, they made me drool just reading/looking at them haha :D
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Just wondering if I did something wrong….I made these and they tasted great, but the texture was just like bread, not chewy like a pretzel. Is that how they are supposed to be??
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Laura Reply:
August 7th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
No, I don’t think you did anything wrong. These pretzels are a little different than the chewy pretzels you get at the mall.
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Colby Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Dissolve a half cup of baking soda into 4 cups of hot water, and dip the pretzels in the solution after you form them, before you place them on the baking sheet. It should turn out chewy like the ones you would find in the mall.
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Meghan Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Mine turned out like rolls as well, rather than pretzel texture. I was surprised how light and fluffy they were, though, because I’ve made whole wheat pretzels before and they were much more dense. These were fantastic anyway, so I’ll definitely make another batch doing the baking soda tip. yum!
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I LOVE these pretzels!! I make them every couple days. I have also started to add flax seed and they are still just as yummy!!! I have 3 little boys and they devour them…as well as me:) Thanks for sharing!!!
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Is the dough supposed to be a big sticky mess when trying to knead it? I’m not a baker…obviously. Help!!
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Laura Reply:
September 19th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
No, if it’s a sticky mess, that means you’ll need to add more flour to make it workable. :)
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I am having an Oktoberfest party this week (60+ people) and was wondering how many pretzels this makes? Also, do they taste as good frozen and reheated? I have always had fresh-out-of-the-oven pretzels (the Martha Stewart recipe which requires you to boil them then bake them) for this party. I can’t do that for this many people. Would love to use your recipe as it seems much simpler and as tasty! How many batches would l need to make? Thanks so much! I am loving your site!
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Laura Reply:
October 11th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
It makes about 20-24 pretzels. Yes, you can freeze and reheat, no problem. For 60 people, I’d probably do three batches. :)
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OH MY GOODNESS!!! These are so AWESOME!!! I’m so excited. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to make pretzels and they turned out delish! Even my husband, who isn’t a fan of any pretzel, LOVED these!!
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wow this recipe was really good! but my pretzels turned hard after a day, what should i do? is this what normally happens? please help!
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Laura Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Mine don’t usually turn hard after one day – I’m not sure what might have happened. I usually wait for mine to completely cool, then store them in a freezer bag in the fridge. I rewarm them in our toaster oven to serve.
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YUM!!!! We just made our first batch of pretzels EVER and these are fabulous!!!! I think we need to make them skinnier so they turn out more like pretzel shape, ut they taste great and just gives us a reason to keep trying!!! :)
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I have never made these, but I’m going to try them and use them to make letters for my son’s name!
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