Homemade Philly Soft Pretzels
Living outside of Philadelphia, I grew up on good soft pretzels. And yes, there’s a BIG difference between soft pretzels and good soft pretzels. My favorites were the pretzels at Rita’s Italian Ice (or Rita’s Water Ice for those who know) and the pretzels at any sports field. They were just better than any others — maybe because of the atmosphere in which they were eaten or maybe they really were the best.
In an attempt to create the nostalgia taste of a Philly soft pretzel in my own kitchen, I stumbled upon Alton Brown’s Soft Pretzel recipe. I used his recipe as a base and tweaked it to closely match the taste and texture of the pretzels from my youth. Although they’re not a perfect match and this pretzels aren’t served in strings of 3 or 4, the result is pretty close. A soft pretzel that’s yeasty, salty, soft on the inside with the perfect crisp on the outside.
I’ve been doing a ton of baking and with the warm weather approaching, I knew soft pretzels had to be on my list. I made them over the weekend and they were perfect so I had to share with y’all. We eat them plain, with spicy mustard (Mister Mustard is one of our favorites!), topped with cheese or dipped in melted chocolate. They are such a versatile snack!
The hardest or most daunting part (to me) was shaping the pretzels. I remember watching and being awed as the Auntie Anne’s Pretzels employees expertly twirled and shaped the pretzels way back when I was a mall-rat. Now every time I make the pretzels, I set out to harness the kind of confidence it must take to shape perfect pretzels in front of a bunch of judgmental preteens and teens. I give some instructions in step 5 of the recipe but practice really makes (close to) perfect when it comes to pretzel shape. You can see that some of mine are kind of misshapen but I like the non-uniformity of them.
If you don’t eat all 8 in one day (an easy feat once you taste them), the pretzels freeze well — place them in a Ziploc or reusable storage bag in the freezer and take one out whenever you’re in the mood for a pretzel. You can reheat in the microwave but I recommend the oven at 350 for around 10 minutes.
These homemade Philly soft pretzels had me craving a mango “water ice” and since we’re staying in our house for the foreseeable future I may have to make that next. Stayed tuned.
Homemade Philly Soft Pretzel
Ingredients
- 1½ cups warm water
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar can substitute cane or white sugar
- 3 tsp kosher salt
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 22 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour ~4 cups — add more if dough is too sticky
- ½ stick unsalted butter, melted
- ⅔ cup baking soda
- 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water
- pretzel or kosher salt
Instructions
- Add water, sugar, salt & yeast to bowl of a stand mixer. Let proof for 5 minutes or until mixture is foamy.
- Add flour & butter. Mix using the dough hook attachment on medium speed until you have a smooth dough that pulls away from the bowl. If you don't have a stand mixer — mix in a bowl and turn out on floured work surface to knead for 10 minutes until dough comes together.
- Remove dough from the bowl (it should be soft and semi-tacky but sticky or dry). Oil the bowl and place the dough back in the bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 450. Ready two baking sheet pans with silicon baking mats or parchment paper.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out on a large cutting board or clean counter space and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a long rope until the rope is about ½ inch thick. Bring the ends in to make a U-shape then cross the ends over each other twice (to make the knot) and press into the bottom of the pretzel. I'll usually stretch half to get the shape of the Philly pretzel — hold on to each "wing" of the pretzel (the pieces on the other sides of the large twin holes) and pull to stretch them out. Place on sheet pan and repeat with the remaining dough.
- Bring ~10 cups of water (i'll fill my 8-qt stock pot ¾ full) & ⅔ cup baking soda to a boil in a large stock pot. You can use a saute pan but I found a stock pot gives you more room to maneuver the pretzels and prevents them from coming untied.
- Place pretzels in boiling water one or two at a time for 30 seconds. Remove and return them back to the sheet pans.
- Whisk egg yolk with 1 tbsp water.
- Brush the top of each pretzel with egg mixture and sprinkle with salt (kosher or pretzel salt work best — you want something with larger granules).
- Bake for ~13 minutes, until they are a golden brown.
- Enjoy plain, with mustard or cheese or any other pretzel toppings you like!
*This is the kitchen scale I use.
*I love these silicon baking mats.
