Soft Pretzel Braids

Soft pretzels are one of my favorite snacks to have. For the longest time I would buy the frozen kind from the grocery store and then reheat them when I wanted a snack, but then one day the pretzel brand that I liked changed their recipe and I just didn’t like them anymore, so I decided to make my own. These are soft and doughy pretzels, topped with pretzel salt. And they’re just as good reheated from the freezer as they are fresh from the oven!

I would highly recommend making a full batch, even if you think 16 is too many pretzels. They are great to freeze and reheat when you want them. That way, you don’t have to always spend the time making the pretzels from scratch when you want to eat them. You’ll just conveniently have them in your freezer.

Enjoy! ~ Kelly

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Soft Pretzel Braids

Yield: 16

Author: Kelly

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 25 MinInactive time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 H & 55 M

Soft and doughy pretzel braids, topped with salt.

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
• ½ cup warm milk (about 110 degrees F)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 pkg instant yeast
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter, at room temperature and cubed
• 4 ¼ cup bread flour

Boiling and Topping

• 8 cups water
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 1 egg, beaten
• Pretzel salt

Instructions

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), combine the water, milk, sugar, and yeast. Stir to combine. Allow this to proof for about 3-5 minutes.
2. To the same bowl, add the salt, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Stir until combined using a large spoon or the dough hook attachment on a stand mixer. Add in the remaining flour. Stir until the dough forms a ball. It should still be slightly sticky, but workable.
3. Knead the dough until it bounces back when poked. This should take about 5 minutes in a stand mixer, or about 7 minutes by hand.
4. Place the kneaded dough in a bowl greased with olive oil and cover with a clean towel. Place the bowl in a warmed oven, about 105 degrees F. For a quicker rise, dampen the towel with warm water before you cover the bowl, or place a dish of warm water on the bottom shelf of your oven while the dough is rising. Let the dough rise about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
6. Punch down the dough. Then divide it into 16 equal sections. Roll each section into a log shape about 22 inches long. Split this log into three equal sections. Pinch them together at the top, then braid together, pinch together at the bottom. Repeat for all 16 pretzels.
7. Prepare your water bath by combining the water and baking soda in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Then boil each pretzel braid for 30 seconds. You can fit about 3 pretzels in the pot at one time.
8. Once all the pretzels have been boiled, brush the beaten egg over the tops and sprinkle with pretzel salt.
9. Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Freezing Instructions

Skiptopping the pretzels with salt before you bake. Once cooled, pretzels can befrozen. To reheat, lightly brush water over the top of the frozen pretzel, topwith pretzel salt, and microwave for 40 seconds.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

153

Fat

3 g

Sat. Fat

1 g

Carbs

27 g

Fiber

1 g

Net carbs

26 g

Sugar

1 g

Protein

5 g

Sodium

951 mg

Cholesterol

15 mg

*Nutritional information is estimated

https://kellyskitchenpa.com/soft-pretzel-braids

Soft Pretzel