Well, technically this is a recipe for soft pretzels. I got it from a friend of mine, eons ago.

Ran into his recipe today and decided it was time to give them a try. They were a huge hit! But pretzels? I dunno. Pretzels are supposed to be crispy and crunchy to me—category potato chips. These weren’t. I guess that’s where the word ‘soft’ comes into play.

The point is though that they tasted like a pretzel but were really more like pretzel buns. Probably because I rolled them too thick. I can live with that, I’ll just name them pretzel buns and all the world is right again. See how easy it is?

They’re highly addictive when eaten with peanut butter. Peanut butter and pretzels were made for each other anyway. Gonna have to find a way to get the peanut butter into the pretzel before baking them next time, though.


Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 slightly heaping tsp instant yeast
2/3 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt (1/4 would have been better)
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp baking soda
kosher salt or coarse sea salt


Directions:

Start by combining the yeast and sugar. I always use instant yeast.

Add 2/3 cup warm water and let the machine spin for a while or let it just sit in a bowl for 5 minutes. Warm water but still very comfortable to touch.

Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 a tsp salt (I think I’ll go for 1/4 tsp next time) and let the machine spin for a while. Add the rest of the flour and knead it for 7 minutes straight.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, put a little oil on top as well, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size. About an hour. I always put mine in the oven, as draft-free as it gets.

Fast forward to 70 minutes later.

The dough had risen nicely.

You can turn this into 6 large or 12 smaller pretzels. I went for bigger ones. What can I say? Size does matter!

Roll each piece of dough into a rope. Twist the ends again and bring them to the top of the pretzel. Press the ends into the dough to secure them.

Combine 1/3 cup warm water with 1 tbsp baking soda and stir well.

Dip the pretzels into the baking soda water, place them on a cookie sheet (I’ve lined mine with parchment paper) and sprinkle some kosher salt or sea salt over them. Let them rest for 10 minutes.

Bake them at 350F (175C) for 18 minutes. Until golden brown.

Always those little hands reaching for the food and snatching away yummy stuff. He’s so my kid.