Soft Pretzels

Pretzels are tasty. Soft pretzels are imminently better than hard pretzels (sorry, Snyder’s of Hanover, you traumatized all of our mouths with your shrapnel-like shards). This recipe came together pulling bits and pieces from various recipes, including at least Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels and Grant Achatz’s German Soft Pretzel Sticks.

Yield: about 12 soft pretzel sticks

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup warm water (110-115°F)

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)

• 4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (approximately 22 oz.), divided (plus extra for shaping)

• 2 oz. butter, melted

• 1/2 cup baking soda (for boiling the pretzels)

• Olive oil

• 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)

• Maldon salt (or other flaky sea salt, for topping)

• Parchment paper

Instructions

Combine the warm water, brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Add the yeast and allow the mixture to sit for approximately 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom.

Add 3 cups of the flour to the mixer. Mix at a low speed to slowly incorporate the flour. With the mixer on, slowly drizzle in the melted butter. Continue to mix at a low speed until you have formed a sticky dough. Scrape the sides down occasionally.

Increase the mixing speed to medium and stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, scraping down the sides between additions. It should take at least 4-5 minutes to incorporate the flour. You’re looking for the dough to be pulling away from the sides of the bowl easily and develop a light sheen.

In the meantime, lightly oil a glass bowl with the olive oil. Scrape the dough from the stand mixer into the oiled bowl. Cover and allow to proof for 45-55 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough a few times to bring it together. Flatten the dough into a rectangle, approximately 1 inch thick (dust with flour as needed for shaping, but you shouldn’t need much). Slice off pieces of the dough to form individual pretzel sticks, about 1 inch wide. You should end up with about 12 pretzel sticks, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 9 inches.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly grease with olive oil. Place 6 pretzel sticks on each baking sheet and allow them to continue proofing, uncovered, for another 25 minutes.

While the pretzels are proofing, bring approximately two quarts of water to a simmer in a wide stock pot. When the pretzels have finished proofing a second time and are slightly puffy in appearance, add the 1/2 cup baking soda to the water. Line another baking sheet with paper towels, or simply lay out sheets of paper towel (or a clean kitchen towel) on your work surface.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Working with 3 pretzel sticks at a time, carefully lower the pretzels into the simmering water and allow them to cook for about 30 seconds. Remove the pretzels to the paper towel using a slotted spoon or spider. Blot off the excess water from the tops of the pretzel sticks with another sheet of paper towel - be careful as they will be quite hot. Transfer the pretzel sticks back to the parchment lined baking sheet and, if you’d like, carefully twist the sticks (we like the twists in the pretzel sticks as it adds surface area for crispy edges to form and salt to adhere - but again, be careful, they’ll be hot). Repeat with the remaining pretzel sticks.

Form an egg wash by combining the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Mix well. Brush the egg wash onto the prepared pretzel sticks and top with Maldon salt (to taste). Bake 14-16 minutes at 450°F, rotating and alternating the baking sheets about halfway through the baking time.

When the pretzels are a dark, golden brown, remove them from the oven to a cooling rack. Allow the pretzels to cool for about 5 minutes before digging in. We recommend enjoying the pretzels with a frosty beer and stone ground mustard, or queso if you prefer.