These pretzels are soft and chewy on the inside and golden brown and crispy on the outside and they’re so easy to make that you can make them anytime at home.  My dad made these with Princess this past summer when she stayed with them and she has talked about them ever since.  So, I asked my dad to share the recipe and teach us how to make them, too.  And now, I have the deliciousness of these Soft Pretzels to share with y’all! (Thanks, Dad)

  • 1 Cup of Lukewarm Water (roughly 105 degrees F)
  • 3 1/4 C flour ( I use 1/2 Cake and 1/2 all purpose sifted together.. this gives them a wonderful chewiness)
  • 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 packets Active Dry Yeast (1 Tbsp)
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted, melted butter
  • 1/2 C baking soda (for boiling)
  • 8 additional cups water (for boiling)
  • 1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp water
  • Kosher Salt

1.  In your mixing bowl, mix the lukewarm water, brown sugar and salt until the sugar and salt are dissolved

2. Add in yeast and stir.  Get rid of any yeast lumps by pressing them to the side and bottom of the bowl.

3.  Let this sit for about 10 minutes or until the yeast mixture is foamy and producing little bubbles.

4.  Pour in the butter and slowly sift in the flour a little at a time

5.   Using your dough hooks, mix on low speed until the ingredients are completely combined.

6.  Change the speed to medium and work the dough until it cleanly pulls off from the sides of the bowl, roughly 5 minutes.  If the dough is too sticky, add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time until it’s the right consistency.

7.  Grease a bowl with oil and put your dough in it, it needs to be a LARGE bowl so that the rising dough has enough room to expand.

8.  Put the dough in a warm place and allow to rise for 1 hour, it should double in size.

9.  Divide the dough into 8 to 14 pieces.. depending on how big you want your pretzels.   Roll the dough until it becomes ropes about 1 1/2 times the length of your forearm.

10.  Create any shapes that you’d like or to create the “traditional” pretzel twist.

  1. Make a U shape with your rope
  2. twist the ends 1, 2,3 times or however many twists that you’d like
  3. Fold back onto the pretzel ‘ base/body’ and press it securely into the dough

11.  Bring the 8 cups water and 1/2 C baking soda to boil.  Drop the pretzels in one at a time and cook each for 50 seconds.  Pull them out and allow the excess moisture to drip off.

12.  Place the pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with the egg yolk, water mixture and sprinkle with kosher salt (or parmesan cheese or whatever your choice of topping is)

13.  Preheat the oven to 450 and bake the pretzels for about 10 minutes, or until brown.

14.  Remove from baking sheet and place on a cooling rack, serve at will and with whatever dipping sauces you and your friends prefer.

You can always get super creative with your pretzels and show off your hobbies and loves, like my dad did.

He loves music.

I would LOVE to hear your stories with this recipe!  What dipping sauces would you use, what toppings?  What shape would your pretzels be?

If you’re participating in Mouthwatering Monday, please make sure that you link up your recipe URL, leave a comment saying Hi or telling me your thoughts on today’s recipe, make sure that you link back to my blog in your post so that others can find this and share their recipes, too and then visit all of the other Mouthwatering Monday participants.


I'm a deep-fried Southern belle, married to a cowboy boot wearin', Harley ridin’ Texan Prince Charming. I am the always proud and frequently exhausted mom to two 8th generation Texans My childhood was spent at my Granny's side learning to cook with cast iron, butter and that special southern ingredient -- love Today, I share my passion for food, family and photography with thousands of monthly readers on my blog, A Southern Fairytale. I love cute boots, my Canon camera, belly laughs with friends, the beach, my family and ellipses..."

35 Comments

  5. Ooh, I love love love homemade pretzels! I make pretzel rolls every time we have soup for dinner. They’re perfect for dunking in the soup! Yum!
    .-= Karly´s last blog ..Magic Peanut Butter Middles =-.

    Reply

  7. I’m not even joking – when will they arrive at my house? I’ll pay for shipping.
    .-= Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s last blog ..#d4haiti Golden Globes Drinking Game, just without the booze. It’s for the good of the Earth & Haiti, so do it. =-.

    Reply

  8. I will definitely be trying this recipe. I love pretzels and homemade sounds so good! I might have to dip some in cinnamon sugar, because my sweet tooth would totally love it!!
    .-= AmazingGreis´s last blog ..Hey you… =-.

    Reply

  15. Damn, those look awesome. Way better than the SuperPretzels! 😉 I agree with the wife, will pay for shipping. I can cook, but baking and I don’t mix. I think cause it’s too exact.
    .-= Hockeymandad´s last blog ..That was FUN! =-.

    Reply

  18. I like hard and soft pretzels and these look so, so yummy, but I’m petrified of yeast. I admire your bravery in the kitchen. (p.s. Cool music note!)
    .-= Rebecca at Toothwhale´s last blog ..Easy mulligatawny soup =-.

    Reply

  19. These look AWESOME! I can’t WAIT to make them! 🙂 I was JUST craving a pretzel the other day! Thank you!!
    .-= Heather´s last blog ..13 days =-.

    Reply

    1. hmmmmm You might be able to, I’m not sure. I have NEVER used a bread maching *gasp* I know, right 😉

      I set my dough on top of my dryer while running a couple of loads.

      If you get this to work in your bread machine, let me know!!!

      Reply

      1. I will give it a try. As my dryer is in the basement which is even colder than the kitchen (at least on the washer side of things our master is very comfy)

        And I totally can not believe that you have not used a bread machine. I love making the dough in it. No muss, just pop in the ingredients and 90 minutes later you have dough to put in the oven.
        .-= Domestic Extraordinaire´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday-When I foget to get cash for the girls’ lunch money edition =-.

        Reply

  22. These look so yummy! But I would also have to try them with some sweet toppings and dips! Thanks so much for hosting

    Thelittlebrownhouse.us

    Reply

  23. Those look heavenly.

    But, what to do if you don’t have a fancy kitchen aid (or similar) mixer with those cute little mixer do-hickies? (Can you tell the kitchen isn’t my first home?

    Reply

  25. Hey, Rachel….what do we do if we do not have dough hook attachments? Any other method we could use? Also, I just found your site a month ago and I love reading it!

    Reply

    1. Hi Tammy! Thanks 😉 I’m glad you’re reading and loving it!
      You can make these without a dough hook!

      Do the first steps up to letting the yeast foam and bubble..

      Then, add 1 C flour and mix well with a strong, hard spatula next, stir in butter, continue adding flour a bit at a time until you notice that it has become a doughy mixture that doesn’t stick to the spatula (much). Start to use your hands now (spray or oil your hands) and use them to knead the dough and get the rest of the flour from the bowl into the dough.
      Now, add dough to a floured surface and knead WELL for about 5 minutes.
      Work into a ball… put in your bowl and continue on as above.

      *thanks for asking! I’ll add these instructions up there, too!

      Reply

  27. We had a snow day yesterday and we tried these. AMAZING!!!!! I grew up around the corner from a pretzle place in St. Louis and miss them desperately and these are as close as we’ve ever come. They wrap a bratwurst or salsiccia with the pretzle dough and I’ve been craving that. Going to make another batch this weekend and pick up some bratwurst to see how it works out!!!

    Reply

  28. Thank you for this excellent and very forgiving recipe. I made it yesterday with my 3 and 5 yr old and we were all thrilled with the outcome. Our finished product loosely resembled yours but I imagine tastes just as good. It’s so kind of you to share this recipe and make it so easy to follow. Thank you!

    Reply

  29. I’m going to bake mine slathered in butter with tons of Kosher salt! I used to stop at Auntie Anne’s if I even got *near* the mall. Since going gluten free almost 5 years ago, I haven’t had a soft pretzel at all. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them until I saw this recipe.

    I can’t wait to share them with my girls!
    .-= Heather´s most recent blog ..Not Abandoned, Just Diversified =-.

    Reply

  30. Omg, these are DELICIOUS!

    One question though… is there any tips for making the dough more manageable? When I was making this I was having a TON of trouble with the dough snapping back (as opposed to stretching out nicely).
    I just used regular flour, not the half-half mixture.

    I really want to make these again for my friend, he’s going through a tough time. But, when I do I’m hoping it will be a bit easier >.<

    Reply

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