Homemade Soft Pretzels

Wow! I haven't posted a new post in such a long time. Well, it's actually because my internet didn't work for two whole weeks. I couldn't do my summer school homework or anything else that needed to be done on the internet for that matter. It all started from a phone call home. I was calling my mom and this random person answered the phone. I was so confused. I was like, "Oh, I'm sorry I think I got the wrong phone number". I redialed with the area code and found out I called the same person again. She explained to me that she recently got this phone number; I was so freaked out. Turns out that something happened to my phone service that caused no one to be able to call my house and the internet was also disconnected. But now I'm back! Yay!

I just made these soft pretzels yesterday and they were perfect. I first saw the recipe on Lick the Bowl Good, but it's originally from Alton Brown. The pretzels were soft and chewy, with the distinct pretzel taste that tastes just like the ones from Auntie Anne's. The weather was perfect when I made them yesterday, it only took around 30 minutes for the dough to double in size!

Homemade Soft Pretzels
Recipe by Alton Brown

The dough is very easy to knead. It only took me a few minutes to get the dough smooth.


After it doubles in size, punch it down and divide into eight pieces. Roll each piece out to 24 inches or so. I just estimated the length. I think that if the dough is rolled into a thinner rope, it will taste better.



The instructions of forming the pretzel shape is pretty self-explanatory. Other shapes you can make with this dough are pretzel sticks, pretzel hot dogs and just anything you want.

Cook the pretzel in boiling baking soda water and put it on a tray.

There's egg wash that needs to be painted on. After I cooked it in the water, the pretzel would have long lines running down it's "arms". What I would do the next time I make these pretzels would be to decrease the amount of water to around 5 cups and adjust the amount of baking soda accordingly. When I was cooking it, I realized that 10 cups of water was just a waste because it's not like the pretzels soak it up or anything. It doesn't make a big difference. I thought that it was really fun to put the pretzel in the water and see it float. :) Take it out after 30 seconds using maybe 2 spatulas. That's what I did.

Bake it until the top is golden brown, it becomes cooked fairly quickly, but the golden brown color on the pretzel will not only make it prettier, but also tastier. I had fun with this recipe.