Try These Soft Pretzels Next Time You’re Looking for an Awesome Beer Snack!

These soft pretzels make for perfect cheeky snacks. Especially when they’re paired with a delicious cheese dip.

You can find a couple of pretzel recipes on my channel, but they are from way back when the production quality was low, the audio was terrible, and my skills were not that good either.

Well, now at least the production quality and the audio are better.

Someone asked me to make pretzels since my channel logo is a pretzel, so here we are.

The pretzel dough is easy to handle and does not require a lot of practice. The cheese dip is optional. I found that something like it is commonly eaten with pretzels. It is quite strong because of the brie. I like it that way though.

You could just eat these pretzels with a slathering of butter or all on their own. It’s all good.

Usually, pretzels are blanched in a boiling bath of water and lye. The lye is what gives them the particular colour and texture. Instead of lye we are using baking soda which achieves a very similar result.

This recipe makes 4 large pretzels. To make more simply multiply all the ingredients.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the dough –

250g (8.8oz) white bread flour

3g (0.1oz) instant dry yeast 3.6g (0.12oz) active dry yeast or 9g (0.31oz) fresh yeast

4g (0.14oz) malt powder

5g (0.17oz) salt

25g (0.9oz) butter, softened

150g (5.3oz) white beer, cold*

*To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

Sea salt to sprinkle on top before baking

40g (1.4oz) bicarbonate of soda and 1.5L (0.4gal) of water for boiling

The flour I use has a protein content of 13%. If your flour is weaker, then you may need to lower the hydration.

If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.

For the cheese dip –

120g (4.25oz) brie

20g (0.7oz) soft butter

50g (1.75oz) cream cheese

1g (0.03oz) smoked paprika

10g (0.35oz) chives

15g (0.5oz) beer

2g (0.07oz) crushed caraway seeds

Method

1. Make the dip. Mix all ingredients except the brie. Add the brie and mix until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.
2. In a large bowl combine the beer, yeast, salt, and malt powder. Mix well to dissolve the salt and hydrate the yeast. Add the butter and the flour. Mix to a dough.
3. Tip the dough out on the table and knead it for 5 minutes. *Desired dough temperature 25C (77F). If your dough is warmer, then it will ferment more rapidly. If it is cooler, then it will take longer. Adjust proofing time accordingly.
4. Cover and ferment for 45 minutes.
5. Fold.
6. Ferment for 45 minutes.
7. Divide into 4 equal pieces and pre-shape into cylinders.
8. Rest for 20 minutes.
9. Shape the pretzels. *See video.
10. Place the pretzels on a non-stick paper lined tray. Cover and chill them for 30 minutes. *During this time pre-heat your oven to 220C (390F) fan off.
11. Boil the pretzels in the baking soda and water bath for no more than 1 minute. Drain on a rack.
12. Place the pretzels back on the non-stick paper lined tray. Brush them with some of the soda water and sprinkle them with sea salt.
13. Bake for 15 minutes.

Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.

Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.