I’ve never been a fan of pretzels when I was a child. I could barely eat one and I couldn’t understand how anyone could like something so boring – it was practically bread. With some salt. And just a bit of sesame – there was never enough sesame.

So years have passed and while I was re watching The Office US, I came across an episode called Pretzel Day.

So I guess that’s why today I decided to make soft pretzels. They turned out to be better than I remembered – probably because I was able to add as much sesame as I wanted (there’s no such thing as too much sesame on a pretzel, if you ask me). So here it is, my recipe for soft pretzels. Well, not really mine, I think it’s a pretty standard one 🙂

The dough was pretty easy to make – you need the simplest, most basic ingredients possible and I guarantee each one is in your kitchen right now. Warm water, instant yeast, melted butter, sugar, salt, flour.

+ flour

=

Something worth mentioning is that you don’t have to wait to let the dough rise. Yes, you read right. I just let it rest for 10 minutes or so, but I think that doesn’t count as waiting, does it?

After you’re done with the dough, it comes probably the “hardest” part of the recipe – the shaping, which by the way, took me way longer than it should take you. Apparently I am really bad at shaping dough and I wish I didn’t waste so much time trying to make them look pretty (because obviously it didn’t worked, but oh well)

So all you have to do is to roll 1/3 cup of dough into a long 20-22 inch rope, twist the ends and fold over. That’s a pretzel.

P.S: I can guarantee yours is going to be looking a lot prettier than mine 🙂

Next, you gotta drop the pretzels into boiling water + baking soda. Let them boil for 20-30 seconds each, then place onto a baking sheet. I suggest you don’t skip this step, as it helps them retain a chewy and soft texture.

Sprinkle with salt and sesame and bake them in a hot oven. That’s it, you’re done!

Ingredients

• 360 warm water
• instant yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar (I used white sugar and worked just fine – but I recommend brown sugar if you have it)
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 460-500g all-purpose flour
• coarse sea salt for sprinkling and sesame

BAKING SODA BATH: 120g baking soda + 2L water

Instructions

1. Whisk the yeast into the warm water and wait 1 minute. Whisk in the salt, sugar and melted butter. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoonuntil dough is thick. Add 3/4  cup more flour (or as much as it’s needed) until the dough is no longer sticky.
2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 3 minutes and shape into a ball. Cover lightly with a clean towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 200C.
4. With a  pizza cutter cut the dough into 1/3 cup sections.
5. Roll small sections of dough into a 20-22 inch rope. Take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape. (see pictures)
6. Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1-2 pretzels into the boiling water for 20-30 seconds.  Lift the pretzel out of the water and allow as much of the excess water to drip off. Place the pretzel onto prepared baking sheet and sprinkle each with coarse sea salt and sesame.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

 

Even though they’re not the prettiest soft pretzels out there, they were definitely delicious and so, so fluffy! Reminded me of childhood and simpler times.

 

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

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