- 12
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
- 3 3 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 2 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
- 2 2 2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 3 3/4 3 3/4 2/3 cups (20 2/3 ounces) bread flour
- Kosher salt
- 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup baking soda
Preparation
Step 1
Making the ballpark favorite at home is easier than you’d think, as long as you follow some tricks that we discovered. First, using bread flour helped achieve a proper soft yet chewy pretzel. To get the deep mahogany color we were looking for, we added brown sugar to the dough and then gave the pretzels a quick dip in an alkaline boiling water and baking soda mixture. After letting the pretzels dry, we baked them to a tender, chewy crumb.
Makes 12 pretzels
We use kosher salt on the exterior of our pretzels, but coarse pretzel salt may be substituted. However, be sure to still use kosher salt in the dough. Keep in mind that the dough needs to rise for 60 minutes, and then the shaped pretzels require a 20-minute rise before boiling and baking. These pretzels are best served warm, with mustard.
Lightly grease large bowl. In bowl of stand mixer, combine warm water, 2 tablespoons oil, sugar, and yeast and let sit until foamy, about 3 minutes. Combine flour and 4 teaspoons salt in separate bowl. Add flour mixture to yeast mixture. Fit stand mixer with dough hook and knead on low speed until dough comes together and clears sides of bowl, 4 to 6 minutes.
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 425 degrees. Dissolve baking soda in 4 cups water in Dutch oven and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Using slotted spatula, transfer 4 pretzels, knot side down, to boiling water and cook for 30 seconds, flipping halfway through cooking. Transfer pretzels to wire rack, knot side up, and repeat with remaining 8 pretzels in 2 additional batches. Let pretzels rest for 5 minutes.
TO MAKE AHEAD:
The pretzels are best eaten the day they are baked but will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Freeze pretzels, wrapped well in plastic wrap, for up to 1 month. To reheat room-temperature pretzels, brush tops lightly with water, sprinkle with salt, and toast on baking sheet at 300 degrees for 5 minutes. Let frozen pretzels thaw before reheating.
Commercial pretzel makers spray unbaked pretzels with lye, a strong alkali, to promote browning and create a shiny crust. Or do they? We consulted our science editor, who told us that while manufacturers call the sprayed solution “food-grade lye,” it’s not really lye at all . . . it’s actually sodium hydroxide. True
lye is created by soaking ashes in water, while sodium hydroxide is created in a chemical plant—and other than being powerful alkalis, the two have nothing in common. Here’s the good news: The baking process neutralizes the caustic sodium hydroxide after it has done its work, making pretzels safe to eat. We neutralized the issue altogether in our recipe, using a more common (and less caustic) alkali, baking soda. By quickly boiling our pretzels in a solution of baking soda and water before they hit the oven, we accomplish two critical tasks: We introduce a thin layer of alkali for browning and shininess, and we set the exterior crust to ensure a dense, chewy.