This recipe for soft pretzel bites has been in my long queue of “appetizers to try” for some time now. With the Super Bowl on Sunday, today seemed like the perfect opportunity finally to try it! I must confess that pretzels are something which I have never made before as I though that they might be too much trouble to bother; I was wrong.
Most pretzel recipes call for boiling the pretzels first in a solution of water and baking soda. This recipe, from King Arthur Flour, omits this step and instead has you dip the soft pretzels in a pan with the same water and baking soda solution and then bake them in the oven. This method is much shorter. In addition, this dough is soft and velvety and does not shrink back when rolling, so it is very easy to work. Most important, you can make these soft pretzels in about an hour!
Making pretzels is a fun weekend project and one that can include any willing helping hands in your household. Even if you have never made bread before, this is the type of recipe that will put you at ease right from the beginning. Not only will your house smell amazing, but you will be rewarded with the most delectable bites of soft and chewy miniature pretzels, just in time for this Sunday’s big game!
Soft Pretzel Bites – Step by Step
- Roll the dough into ropes:
2: Cut the dough ropes into 12 pieces each (I used a dough scraper for that): 
3. Place dough pieces into a pan with the baking soda and water mixture: 
4: Place into prepared baking pans, sprinkle with salt and bake:
5. Pretzel bites baked and ready to roll into melted butter:
6. Pretzel bites rolled into butter and ready to enjoy!
- Dough:
- 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 2¼ tsp. instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- Topping:
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 TBSP. baking soda
- ---- Coarse salt or pretzel salt
- ---- Swedish pearl sugar (optional)
- 6 TBSP. butter, melted
- ---- Cinnamon-sugar (optional)
- Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well combined. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until it is soft, smooth, and quite slack. Sprinkle some flour on the dough, place the bowl in a plastic bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, prepare the topping: Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray. You can also line it with parchment paper, but you should spray that with vegetable oil as well, so as to make sure the pretzels won’t stick.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into six equal pieces. Roll the six pieces of dough into 12" to 15" ropes. Cut each rope crosswise into about 12 pieces.
- Pour the cooled baking soda solution into a pan large enough to hold the bites. Place the bites into the solution, gently swish them around, and leave them there for a minute or two. Transfer them to a prepared baking sheet, and top with the course sea salt.
- Bake the pretzel bites for 12-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and roll them in the melted butter.
- Place on a rack. In you are not going to enjoy them immediately, store the bites, well-wrapped, at room temperature. Reheat briefly before serving. Serve with different mustards (like a coarse mustard or honey-mustard, or a spicy brown mustard) on the side, or, with any mustard based dipping sauce.
These pretzel bites are best when freshly baked but if you need to store them, place in a container and leave loosely covered at room temperature for 1-2 days. Reheat gently in a 350°F oven before serving.
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Wish I would’ve seen these yesterday! I love pretzels so these are right up my alley.
Maybe you can make them another time then – the recipe is really foolproof and so easy too!