Homemade Philly Soft Pretzel
A yeasty, salty, soft on the inside, crispy on the outside homemade Philly-style soft pretzel.
Servings: 8 pretzels
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!