How To Make Soft & Chewy Sourdough Soft Pretzels

It’s not secret everyone loves and warm salted soft pretzel, but have you ever tried homemade sourdough soft pretzels!? They are hands down the best soft pretzels you will ever have. Beautiful golden, soft, chewy and with a touch of sourdough flavor. Absolutely dreamy!

Soft pretzels are a classic snack that so many of us grew up enjoying whether it was at the mall, a sports game, or the fair. There is something fun about them being a treat you get at different events, but when you can make them at home with better for you ingredients, they can be enjoyed whenever you like!

If you have never made soft pretzels before, they are actually very simple. To start, you mix together a simple sourdough dough. Then you let that rise over night. Once it is light and puffy, you cut it into pieces, then roll each piece into a long skinny log. Take that log and simple twist it into a pretzel, then boil them and bake until golden! You don’t need any special ingredients or equipment to make them and they will blow your mind.

Sourdough Soft Pretzels make such a great snack for yourself or your kids. They are great to pack in lunches, or to enjoy as party food. You can customize the toppings to your liking and dip them in anything your heart desires! These will be a family favorite.

Tips for Making Perfect Sourdough Soft Pretzels

1. Make sure you are using a sourdough starter that is strong, active and was fed about 8-10 hours prior to making the dough. I always recommend doing a 1:4:4 ratio feed.
2. When you are rolling and shaping the pretzels, it can be helpful to wet your hands ever so slightly. This will help the dough grab the counter and your hands slightly so that it stretches much quicker.
3. If you are adding salt to your pretzels, you want to make sure you do so, right after each pretzel comes out of the boiling water. This allows the salt to stick when they are still tacky and prevents it from all just falling off as it bakes.

Sourdough Soft Pretzel Ingredients

Sourdough Starter– As mentioned above you want to use a nice strong sourdough starter that it fed and at its peek.

Flour– You can use unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour. Whichever you usually use for your bread.

Sugar– Just a touch goes in the dough and into the water for boiling the pretzels.

Salt– Any fine salt is great for the dough, then a nice flaky salt for on top.

Baking Soda– This is essential in the water for boiling the pretzels to help give that classic texture and color.

Butter– Melted butter brushed onto the pretzels straight out of the oven gives them that beautiful shine.

The Steps

Make the Dough

1. Start by adding the sourdough starter, flour, water, sugar and salt to a bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Mix by hand or with a dough hook attachment until the dough is well combined.
3. Then, allow the dough to knead for about 6 minutes in the mixer or knead it by hand for 7-8 minutes until it is beautiuflly smooth.
4. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 12 hours or until doubled-tripled in size. See photos.

Shape the Pretzels

1. Once the dough has proofed, dump it onto a clean work surface and cut it into 12 roughly even sized pieces.
2. Take one of the pieces of dough and roll it into a long skinny log, making it about 1/2 an inch thick.
3. Then take each end, pull them up above the center of the log, and cross them over each other. Twist the ends once to make the pretzel twist, then grab the two end and pull them down towards you, placing them on either side of the center. Gently press them into the dough underneath so that the pretzel doesn’t come apart.
4. Repeat this process with all twelve pretzels. See photos for step by step visual.
5. Place all of the pretzels on a baking sheet with parchment, a couples inches apart from each other.
6. Cover the trays with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm spot for about 60-75 minutes or until nice and puffy.

Boil & Bake

1. Once they have puffed up, fill a large pot with water, 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1 tbsp of brown sugar.
2. Bring the pot of water to a gentle boil, then place a couple pretzels in the water at a time. Allow them to boil for about 45 seconds, then flip, and boil for another 45 seconds.
3. Remove the pretzels from the water and place onto a wire rack so that the excess water can drip off.
4. Sprinkle the pretzels with flaky sea salt immediately after coming out of the boiling water. This ensure the salt will stick.
5. Once all of the pretzels have been boiled and salted, place them back onto the baking sheet with parchment and baked at 425F for 12-14 minutes.
6. Remove the pretzels from the oven once they are a dark golden brown, brush with melted butter immediately and enjoy warm!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or a recipe review below!

Looking for more fun sourdough recipes to try?

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-mini-sourdough-pizza-bagel-bites/

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-mini-strawberry-sourdough-pop-tarts/

https://cmbarndominium.com/perfectly-soft-gooey-sourdough-monkey-bread/