Soft Pretzel Recipe - The Bread That's Making Me Lose My Mind

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(Edited)

It’s 90F outside. And inside the house, I was feeling baked alive.

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At that moment, I wished I was at my own place, getting comfy and not having to deal with the heat. At the same time, I was already baking the bread, soft pretzel, something that I’ve always wanted to do. It was like me getting baked instead of the bread getting baked. Anyway, I was resting my dough but I knew something was a bit off with my dough. I only waited and eventually when I opened it, they didn't stick together. Suddenly, my mom came downstairs and checked on my dough. She starts nagging, asking me many questions instead of leaving me alone.

“ This is the recipe any elementary kids can do” I yelled at her for something she said previously.
“ I am too stupid for this,” I added.

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I can tell you as much that living with a baker is not fun, my mom sets high standards for everything and it can be exhausting. Nothing I do ever gets right. Other moms would be so proud if their kids can bake but not my mom. You sort of have to be a patissier or a master baker and even when you’ve become one, that’s still not enough. So, that’s the picture.

This is the result from my failed pretzel in the first try

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I started all over again with my dough and I eventually found out what went wrong. Okay but first, here’s what you need to make a soft pretzel. It’s nothing too difficult.

In this measurement, it yields about 7 pretzels a bit on the smaller size. You can do it for 4 and make a jumbo soft pretzel.

  • 145gr Bread flour
  • 3 tbsp Active Yeast
  • 90 ml Water
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • 2 tbps Oil
  • 2 tbsp Baking soda
  • An egg for the egg wash

Basically, if you have bread flour and active yeast, you can make rustic bread and all types of hard bread. To make a soft pretzel, the first thing you have to do is make the yeast mixture.

Here’s the step-by-step

  • Mix yeast, salt, sugar and water into one. Rest it for about 5-7 minutes.
  • Add flour and oil into the bowl, mix it together.
  • Then add the mixture of yeast slowly into the flour, little by little because if you don’t your dough won’t come out beautifully stretched and smooth.
  • While mixing the yeast into the flour, stir them until they stick together and form a soft stretchy dough.
  • Mix together and knead a little bit then rest for an hour in a bowl that’s slightly covered with oil.
  • After an hour, cut the dough based on your preference.
  • Roll them up into smaller long dough, preferably even on all sides.
  • Make a knot with it.
  • Bathe the dough in a mixture of baking soda boiling water
  • Strain them and cover it with an egg wash.
  • Sprinkle with flaky salt of if you don’t have just use sesame seeds
  • Bake in the oven for 15 minutes

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Here are some tips that I learned.

  • To make the outer side crispy and not too hard, you have to sprinkle the dough with water and add a tray of water in the bottom part of the water. Once you put the dough inside, you also have to spray/sprinkle water inside the oven.
  • While bathing them with baking soda, take 2 minutes on each side and watch them grow. It actually will make them stretchy, chewy but still soft inside.

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In the end, they came out beautifully baked, soft while still chewy. It was not fun making these at first but I eventually get the hang of it. Amongst my favorite, pretzels is definitely on top then my bahn mi and eventually my bagels. I still have to make focaccia but I have to buy tomatoes and rosemary for them. I also have ciabatta next but that’s for another week and before I am leaving back again. I have to say that bread-making is not too difficult. It doesn’t require difficult techniques unlike pastries which I tried making the other day, I was not too patient. My mom said, “ baking is like an art, you have to be calm, passionate and patient.” which is something I can’t do especially when I was feeling like I was baked alive.

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35 comments
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I could never be calm and patient with a mom around me, telling me to do things different 🤣 I love those Pretzels!

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having her around and the heat, it's just extra craziness 🤣

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Thank you for sharing this recipe. I love bread and will try this later on.

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let me know when you and most importantly, check out my notes so that yours don't fail like my first try.

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I love pretzels like this! Yours look fantastic!

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😁 thank you! I still have to perfect the shape but otherwise, they taste fantastic too!

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maybe your mother is not angry or fussy, but gives motivation so that you are even more enthusiastic about making bread. I think so. Keep spirit

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I didn't say that she's angry. She's just fussy and certainly not in the way that would make me pretty enthusiastic about it. I know the difference but either way, I was not really mad at her or anything.

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Your mom sounds a lot like mine. She's a chemist and a good baker too. And she's also a perfectionist with such high standards that never fails to make one feel bad about what they're doing. It's so hard to please her, even if the world is already praising your work.

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A chemist and a baker, was she obsessed with measurements? 😆 I can assume she was. It's not really fun living with such person but I guess, it is what it is.

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Oh man I think those pretzels look amazing! I do hate when you get a backseat cooker though lol telling you what you're doing wrong or should be doing. Back up tootz!

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hahahaha yeah! that's the worse xD so that's why. I love and hate having my mom around when cooking.

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This is the first time I read about bathing dough in the soda mixed boiling water can you explain it more to me?

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Basically, the boiling process with baking soda will give the pretzel a nice brown look and crispiness on the outer side and chewy soft on the outer side. They also give a certain taste to the pretzel and make them even rise than the actually are.

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There are some secrets that we don't know but can change the taste)

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You are lucky that you have such talent in baking. I am not into baking nor cooking, sadly. I just cannot do good in the kitchen, maybe washing the dishes could only be my contribution. Also, I could not stand hearing my mom nagging me nonstop when I am in the kitchen, lol. It would surely start a clash!

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😂 I don't think I am talented at all, I just get obsessed at something, do it many times and eventually be able making it. Perhaps, you could do it that way. It's okay to fail and try again 😅 on the contrary I love and hate washing dishes. I totally would avoid that. Thanks for checking out, this recipe is so easy to make and beginner friendly too :D

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Hahaha. You think I can do it? Should I consider baking already, mac? 😅

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For real! you can do it. I consider myself a newbie at baking tooo :D

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They look beautiful. You can see from the pictures that it tastes great too. Health to your hands.

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I agree with your mother about some things, but a beginner cannot be expected to do everything perfectly. I've been trying new recipes and @ezgicop makes fun of me when I do something wrong. I hope I can cook better every day haha.

Btw I like your pretzels, they look yummy.

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You can do it, cooking is easy as long as you try!

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Because even at the simplest level you take everything very seriously, which makes me laugh. 🤭

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Hahahahahahahaha poor Mac I understand that pressure of having a bakery expert next to you while you prepare the breads, but in the end they always turn out well after a few scoldings, so maybe they are necessary hahaha.

Nah, lie, those pretzels look great, I wish I thought like you, that after all baking is easy, but the truth is that for me it's harder than open heart surgery.

By the way, I found out what makes everything I bake look bad, it's my oven that has a problem, apparently the heat was mainly dispersed in one place, now we have to get someone to fix that, after that, I might try with the bread although I doubt it will look like yours.

Greetings @macchiata 💞 I hope you will soon open your own bakery 😅.

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Technically, I have my own bakery but my mom's the baker 🤣 I just manage administration and financing her. Give it 2-3 days, you certainly can do it but that's going to take about half your day. I miss being on hive, so I stopped baking haha otherwise, I can do that everyday 🤣 and will try every recipe there is! Take care! I read your post yesterday but forgot to leave comment as usual.

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Ooohhhh @macchiata I want to be like you when I grow up 🥲, so you're an entrepreneur at such a young age? 😱Excellent! Especially because at the same time you invest your money, you keep your mom active and that's definitely a very good thing for her and at the same time it generates profits for you, you're a genius! Teach me to be like you pleaseeee 🥹🥹

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