Soft Beer Pretzels
“I’m always looking for new ways to combine fun flavours, and what goes together better than beer and pretzels? Not much that I can think of. That’s why I put them together into one delicious recipe.” —Alyssa Wilhite, Whitehouse, Texas
| Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time |
| 8 pretzels | 1hour + rising | 10minutes |
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 pretzels | 1hour + rising |
| Cook Time |
| 10minutes |
- 1 bottle amber beer or nonalcoholic beer 12 ounces
- 1 package active dry yeast 1/4 ounce
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1-1/2 tsp salt
- 4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- Topping:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tbsp water
- coarse salt optional
- coarse salt optional
|
Ingredients
Portions: pretzels
Units:
|
- In a small saucepan, heat beer to 110°-115°; remove from heat. Stir in yeast until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, yeast mixture and 3 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
- Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 425°. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide and shape into 8 balls. Roll each into a 24-in. rope. Curve ends of each rope to form a circle; twist ends once and lay over opposite side of circle, pinching ends to seal.
- In a Dutch oven, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels, 2 at a time, into boiling water. Cook 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain well on paper towels.
- Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk and water; brush over pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from pans to a wire rack to cool.
- Freeze option: Freeze cooled pretzels in freezer containers. To use, thaw at room temperature or microwave each pretzel on high until heated through, 20-30 seconds.
To Make Pretzel Rolls:
Divide and shape dough into 8 balls; roll each into a 14-in. rope. Starting at 1 end of each rope, loosely wrap dough around itself to form a coil. Boil, top and bake as directed.
Yield: 8 pretzels.
To Make Pretzel Bites: Divide and shape into eight balls; roll each into a 12-in. rope. Cut each rope into 1-in. pieces. Boil and top as directed; bake at 400° for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.
Yield: 8 dozen.
Nutrition Facts
1 pretzel: 288 calories, 4g fat (2g saturated fat), 16mg cholesterol, 604mg sodium, 53g carbohydrate (6g sugars, 2g fibre), 7g protein.
