I grew up living in a home whose basement freezer was constantly stocked with Costco-sized boxes of soft pretzels. I have no idea why my mom felt compelled to add soft pretzels of all things to our food regimen, but there I was — obsessed with eating the nubby ends first before demolishing the rest of the twisted bread. Then there was swim team, where I ended every practice with one of those gross, kind of soggy soft pretzels they sold at the front desk. They weren’t particularly good, but you just don’t say no to bread after you‘ve swam butterfly enough to easily peel your arms off the rest of your body. And then of course, there are baseball games. Ah, the sport that so few watch but so many tolerate for the food’s sake. My jam is Wrigley Field with a soft pretzel followed by a cup of Dippin’ Dots. That’s summertime right there.
All these fond memories came flooding back when I saw this recipe for rosemary sea salt pretzels on Pinterest. Even though active dry yeast scares me — it seems so intimidating to get the right rise environment and knead the dough just enough — it was much easier than I expected.
Here are some notes:
– I don’t have a stand mixer (hello, wedding registry/date TBD!), but you don’t need one. I first mixed the ingredients with a wooden spoon, then combined it more smoothly with my own hands. Seriously, your hands are your best mixer.
– When rolling out the dough, I found it helpful to not use a flour-ed workspace. It’s also a good idea to occasionally wet your hands to roll.
– You’ll find that the dough wants to bounce back while rolling. Give the gluten some time to relax and it’ll stretch.
– My pretzels were fairly large, which is indicative of how long I rolled out the dough (about 22″). I’d love to try mini versions in the future.
– Here’s a helpful visual on how to twist pretzels.
– When I poured the baking soda into the pot of boiling water, the water erupted and baking soda-laced H20 began flooding my stove top (photo evidence ahead). Not good. Pour that stuff slowly. Really slowly.
– When I took each pretzel out of the pot with a slotted spoon, the pretzel was obviously wet. It stuck to the wax paper, but I thought wax paper’s magical nonstick properties would save it. NO. All the pretzels came out of the oven stuck as if I had drenched them in super glue. The pictures turned out well, but only because Eaman and I carefully sawed off the bottom of each pretzel in order to get it off. Can someone advise? What’s the solution for wet pretzels + wax paper?
– These are best served outdoors with a cold beverage.
Wow, these look fantastic! Wax paper is not ideal for baking/very high temps since the wax melts. Still, it seems to work fine with melted chocolate…hmm…perhaps it’s the combination of the heat and how wet they were that melted the wax? I’d use parchment paper next time. Still non-stick, but silicone has a much higher melting point!
I feel so enlightened! Had no idea about the differences between parchment and wax paper. Now I need to make these again. Thanks so much!!
These look delicious! You might have inspired me to make some. The twisting looks fun. :)
so awesome! try a silpat. i love mine to pieces, and consuming (and buying!) less paper makes me feel pretty swell. works super with cookies + other baked goods too.
I just bought (and opened) a box of parchment paper – ugh! — but you know, I should really just get one of those silpats. So much more eco-friendly. Thanks for the tip!