Soft Pretzels

Soft baked pretzels recipe; See why I’m addicted to this very easy and tasty soft baked pretzels recipe!

I made these pretzels on a far too common day off school.  Which, naturally, means my house is full of teenage boys.

The smell of this soft baked pretzels recipe was enough to bring them running (I exaggerate not) up the stairs.

“I smell food.”
“Mom, we’re hungry.”
“Is there any pizza left?”
“Can we have snacks?”

*sigh*  My pantry was looking like Old Mother Hubbard so I told them to wait for me while I photographed these pretzels, and then they could dive in.

They waited… staring… sort of patiently.

“You only need one photo, right?”
“Shh… let her get in the zone.”

As soon as I gave them the all-clear, they devoured the pretzels.  Within 5 minutes, all but one of those 16 pretzels were gone.  Not a crumb remained.  It was seriously like those African ants that march through the town and eat everything in sight.

To tell you the truth, I sort of wish I had never learned to make them, because they are far easier and faster than I expected, and seriously?!!  Warm bread… extra salt… This is going to be SO bad for my waistline.  I’ve made them about 5 times in the last three weeks.

So maybe it was a good thing all those boys were around to help me eat them.

A word to the wise: eat these babies fresh out of the oven.  First of all, they taste sooooo good warm.  And second, they just don’t really keep well.

If you’re anything like me, you won’t have any trouble wanting to eat them the minute they come out of the oven.

Last recommendation: try them with my Cheesy Mustard Dip!

Print Recipe

Soft Pretzels

A basic recipe for soft baked pretzels.

Prep Time1 hr 30 mins

Cook Time8 mins

Total Time1 hr 38 mins

Servings: 8 large or 16 small pretzels

Author: Jen @ Jen's Favorite Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup + 1/2 cup warm water (about 110F)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• sea salt

Instructions

• Combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast and 1 cup water. Continue until it forms a heavy dough.
• Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Let rise until about double in size, about an hour.
• Split dough into 8 pieces for large pretzels, or 16 for small pretzels. Form each piece into a long rope, and tie into a knot.
• In a small dish, combine ½ cup warm water with baking soda. Dip each formed pretzel into baking soda water, and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle each with sea salt.
• Let rise while preheating oven to 450F, about 10 minutes. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until brown and cooked through. Serve warm.