A hot buttered pretzel tastes exactly how it sounds. It has a crispy, salty, buttery exterior with a chewy interior. It’s the perfect snack with a mug of cold beer. My son Wesley even loves them, and he doesn’t eat anything. Really. He’s in the 2 percentile for weight. It’s been a stress, but let’s not talk about that right now. I think what I love most about making these hot buttered pretzels, besides getting to eat them, is the sense of wonder I feel at every stage of this particular baking process. I usually feel this way when I make any sort of bread. I love watching the bubbles pop up to the surface after I’ve mixed the yeast with the warm water. I love how the dough texture transforms right under my hands while I knead it. I love how I can tuck a small ball of dough under a towel and two hours later it will puff up into a beautifully smooth pillow of air. Bread baking is all science, but it feels like magic, and I love that.
These hot buttered pretzels are the hybrid of two different recipes. The dough itself comes from one of my favorite bread baking books Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno. The finishing touches with the sugar/water solution, hot butter and baking instructions comes from my most trusted baking book King Arthur Flour Baking Companion.
Let’s do this together, step by step. First, dissolve the yeast in warm water.
Pour the yeast mixture into a well of flour and salt. Using a wooden spoon, gradually mix in a little of the dry ingredients to create a paste. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel, and set aside for 20 minutes.
This is the sponge (a bubbled mixture made up of a little flour, salt, water, and yeast). It helps deepen the flavor of bread.
Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and 3/4 cup of water into the sponge.
Dump the contents on a clean work surface.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes. To make sure that the dough has been properly and thoroughly kneaded take a portion of the dough and gently stretch it. If it can stretch thin enough to shine light through without breaking then the dough is ready to rise. This is called the “window pane test”.
Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean bowl. Cover with a damp dish towel and set aside to rise for about an hour and half.
The dough is ready when it has doubled in size.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, shape each piece into a round roll, and then roll each into a 16-inch strip. Be sure that the ends of each strip are thin, and the middle of each strip is thicker. Take a strip, and shape it into an upside “U”.
Twist the ends together twice.
Press the ends down on either side of the fatter part of the dough loop.
Proof (the second rise) the pretzels for 30 minutes, and then dip each in a sugar/water solution. Bake the pretzels in a 500 degree F. oven for about 10 minutes.
While the pretzels are still hot from the oven, brush each one with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.
- 2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
- ¾ cup Luke Warm Water, 98 degrees F.
- 3 and ½ cups (500 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 and ½ tsp. Salt
- ¾ cup Water
- ½ cup Sugar Water Solution (1/2 cup water mixed with 1 tsp. Sugar)
- Sea Salt
- 3 TBS (42 g) Unsalted Butter, melted
- Pour the yeast in a bowl full of the ¾ cup of luke warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes to dissolve. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Stir the yeast and water mixture, and then pour this mixture into the well of the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, mix in just a little of the dry ingredients into the yeast mixture to create a paste. This paste will become the sponge. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and set aside for 20 minutes.
- Stir all of the dry ingredients, and ¾ cups of water into the sponge. Dump the contents of the bowl on a clean surface, and knead for 10 minutes. Stretch a portion of the dough apart. If it can be stretched thin without breaking then you are good to go. If not, then keep kneading.
- Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean bowl. Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise for 1 and ½ to 2 hours, or until doubled in size. To make sure the dough is properly risen make an indentation with two fingers. If the indentation slowly disappears then it is ready. If it disappears quickly it is under proofed, and should rise for a little bit longer. Punch the dough down, and then let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, and then roll each ball into a 16” strip. Make sure that the middle of the strip is thicker than the ends. Form an upside down “U” with the strip. Twist the two ends together twice, and then press them down on either side of the thicker, middle dough loop.
- Place each pretzel on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and proof for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Dip each pretzel in the sugar/water solution, and place back on the greased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. The pretzels are ready when they’ve turned a lovely golden brown. Once out of the oven, immediately brush melted butter on each pretzel. Be sure to use all of the butter. Finally, sprinkle each with sea salt. Enjoy while still warm! If eating at another time, reheat the pretzels in a 350 degree F. oven for 5 minutes.
- Wooden spoon
- Damp kitchen towel
- Large bowl
- Thermometer (optional)
- Dough scraper
- Large baking sheet
- Pastry brush
