Time to play in the kitchen again! I am not a newbie to homemade soft pretzels. My favorite bread machine cookbook “Bread Machine Magic” has a recipe for “Special Ed-ible Pretzels” on page 158 which I have been making since my kids were in elementary school (they are in college now).
I had never made pretzel bites until I stumbled onto this post at Two Peas and their Pod. I made the recipe, but the pretzels didn’t taste as good as I was used to. So I got out my old “Special Ed-ible Pretzel” recipe and combined the best of both, to get these. My family, and some of my son’s friends, ate both batches. Both were good, but they liked this batch the best. The changes I made to the Two Peas recipe were: amount of baking soda in the water (down from 3/4 cup to 2 1/2 T), using 2 tsp. white sugar instead of 1 T. brown sugar, replacing the egg wash with a brush of butter, doubling the yeast, and halving the recipe.
Polly’s Notes: This recipe can be successfully doubled (since I successfully halved it!). Dips would be good to serve, but I haven’t made any yet. Two Peas has a recipe for a cheddar cheese dip, but I did not test it. If you know how to make a pizza sauce dip, that would go well too. And since we are in Oktoberfest season, mustard might be good but, there is nothing wrong with eating these “plain” in their basic buttery, salty goodness, which is what we do. Pretzel bites should be eaten warm. They don’t keep well at all.
Soft Pretzel Bites
3/4 cup warm tap water (110 to 115 degrees)
2 tsp white sugar
4 tsp vegetable oil (or melted butter)
2 tsp. yeast
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. Kosher salt (or ¾ tsp table salt)
10 cups boiling water
2 ½ T. baking soda
1 T. melted butter
Kosher salt
Combine water, sugar, yeast and oil in a bowl. Stir to combine, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Add the flour and the salt to the bowl of an electric mixer. Pour in the yeast mixture, stir to combine then beat with a dough hook for 3 -5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If your dough seems a bit wet, add additional flour 1 T. at a time. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set in warm place to rise for about 60 minutes, or until dough has doubled in volume. Preheat oven to 425º. Bring the water and the baking soda to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Meanwhile, divide dough into 4 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, about 12 inches long. Cut dough into 1 inch slices. Rest slices on a rack over a baking sheet. You should have about 48 pretzel bites.
Boil the pretzels bits in the simmering water, adding 10 – 12 bites to the water at a time. Boil each batch for 30 seconds, stirring gently. With a slotted spoon remove boiled bites to rack to dry slightly. Sprinkle each bite generously with Kosher salt then place on a well greased cookie sheet. Bake in 425º oven for approximately 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush baked bites with melted butter. Add a bit more salt, if desired.
Wait five minutes, then these bites are ready to be devoured.
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today. Have some fun, invite some kids over and play in the kitchen! I’d be interested in hearing what sort of dip, if any, you served these with.
