These beautifully soft and flavorful homemade pretzels are nice and chewy on the inside but just crispy and salty enough on the outside! Perfect for dipping in your favorite cheese or mustard dip, or just plain snacking on in this chilly weather!
Soft and salty pretzels are their own special category of comfort food! They have so much flavor and they’re just an amazing texture!
I made these out of a burst of Disney nostalgia. All of the RunDisney events are going on right now, and while I haven’t done one in a while {but hey, I’m getting back into running regularly!}, I’ve run the Princess Half, the Avengers Half, the Food & Wine series, and a number of others – and during those races, my mind has wandered to the food I’m going to enjoy after burning a half marathon’s worth of calories.
After running the Princess Half with a good friend of mine, we could think of nothing but making our way to EPCOT and wandering to the German pavilion for a beer and a nice chewy soft pretzel. All that flavor and salt after a long run just tasted amazing!
So I made these tasty little goodies.
My pretzel shaping might need work but everyone who has tasted these agrees that the recipe is spot on and the textures are absolutely right. They’re delicious!
And they’re perfect for dipping in your favorite cheese or mustard dip – or in the companion recipe I’m posting today, my beer cheese soup!
[lt_recipe name=”Homemade Soft Pretzels” summary=”These beautifully soft and flavorful homemade pretzels are nice and chewy on the inside but just crispy and salty enough on the outside! Perfect for dipping in your favorite cheese or mustard dip, or just plain snacking on in this chilly weather!” servings=”6-8 pretzels” total_time=”1H45M” print=”yes” image=”https://homefrontcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Soft-Baked-Pretzels-and-Beer-Cheese-Soup-0278-1024×683.jpg” ingredients=”1 cup warm whole milk;1 package or 2 tsp instant yeast;3 tbsp brown sugar;2 tbsp melted butter;1 tsp salt;2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour;olive oil;1/4 cup baking soda;3-4 cups warm water;1 egg;flaky sea salt” ]In a large mixing bowl, whisk the warm milk, yeast, brown sugar, butter, and salt together until they’re well combined.;Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 times.;Drizzle the inside of the bowl with a little olive oil. Mold the dough into a ball and drop it into the bowl, rolling it in the oil to coat and prevent sticking. Cover with a cloth and set aside in a warm place for an hour so it can rise.;When the dough has risen, punch it down and cut it into 6 sections {or 8 if you want smaller pretzels}.;Roll each section into a pretzel rope and fold it into a pretzel shape. I’m sure you guys are better at this than me, but considering I’m making these to rip up and dip in beer cheese, any shape is fine.;Preheat your oven to 450F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.;In a large bowl, whisk the 1/4 cup of baking soda into 3-4 cups of warm water. Dip each pretzel into the baking soda mix {this is what gives it its pretzly crispiness} and set it on the parchment-lined baking sheet.;Beat the egg in a small ramekin. Brush each of the pretzels with egg and sprinkle with the flaky sea salt to your liking.;Bake the pretzels at 450F for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.;Serve and enjoy![/lt_recipe]
You can also just roll these into balls to make delicious pretzel rolls – which go great with my lamb burgers with blue cheese and caramelized onions!
At the moment, though, this is my favorite pairing for these beauties.
Hello, Irish beer cheese soup! If this combination looks tasty to you, too, head on over and check out my other recipe for today!
