These soft pretzels have a subtle yeasty and hoppy flavor because of the beer used in the dough! Use any beer that you have on hand, but keep in mind the beer flavor is fairly mild and subtle in the final pretzel, so a stronger flavored beer works best. I use bread flour in this recipe because it gives the pretzels a nice chew but you can use all-purpose if you’d like. Expect the pretzels to be a little bit softer in texture if you opt for all-purpose.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword beer, bread, pretzels, yeast
Prep Time 25 minutesminutes
Cook Time 18 minutesminutes
Rest Time 50 minutesminutes
Servings 12
Calories 217kcal
Author Irvin
Ingredients
Dough
1 1/2cupsbeer12 fluid ounces or one standard bottle/can
1tablespoonmalt syrup or dark brown sugar
2 1/4teaspoonsactive dry yeast7 grams or 1 package
4 1/4cupsbread flour637 grams
4tablespoonsunsalted buttermelted, 57 g or 1/2 stick
2teaspoonkosher salt
To Boil
10cupswater
2/3cupbaking soda170 g
To Finish
1large egg yolk
1tablespoonwater
Coarse salt
Instructions
Warm the beer in a medium sauce pan until it is warm to the touch but not too hot (think bathwater). It should be about 100°F if you have an instant read thermometer. Add the barley malt syrup (or brown sugar) into the warm beer and stir until it is dissolved. Pour the liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the liquid and stir with a fork to dissolve. Let sit for 5 minutes to proof. The top of the liquid should be slightly foamy. If it isn’t, discard and start over with fresh yeast.
Once the yeast has proofed, add both flours, butter and salt to the liquid. Stir it with the dough hook on slow speed until the liquid has absorbed all the dry ingredients. You might need to stop the mixer and scrape the sides with a spatula or plastic bench scraper to help.
Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and pulls away cleanly from the side of the bowl.
Pull the dough off the hook and out of the bowl. Lightly coat a bowl with cooking oil. Stretch the dough into a ball, gathering the rough edges of the dough into one side and then place in the bowl, with the rough edges down. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm area to rise until the dough has doubled, about 50 to 60 minutes (though it could be up to 2 hours depending on how cold your kitchen is).
Once the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 450º, Line two baking sheets with silicon mats or lightly grease them with cooking oil. Place the water and baking soda in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the baking soda has dissolved.
Once the water has been brought to a boil, divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Cover the pieces with plastic wrap or a damp towel to keep them from drying out.
Roll one piece into a 20-inch long rope. Fold the rope in half.
Twist the ends three or four times together. Pull the bottom ends of the twisted rope up and through the “hole” at the top of the dough. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Once all the pretzels twists have been formed, boil six of them (or as many as will comfortably fit) in the baking soda water for 45 seconds. Flip the pretzels upside down and boil for an additional 45 seconds. Remove the pretzels from the water and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pretzels. Beat the egg yolk and water together and brush the top of each pretzel with the egg wash.
Sprinkle the coarse salt on top of the pretzels. The egg wash will help the salt to stick. Bake in the oven for 16 to 18 minutes or until the pretzels are a dark brown. Rotating the pans once during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
Feel free to form these pretzels in a more traditional pretzel shape if you’d like! See my instructions and photos for forming pretzels on my homemade soft pretzel recipe.