Jack’s famous sourdough soft pretzels. A soft inside, a perfectly chewy outside, with a subtle sourdough flavor and topped with salt.
Sourdough Soft Pretzels
Delicious with everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, or other seasoning toppings.Pretzels are best eaten when fresh, but you can lightly toast pretzels the next day to soften the inside and crisp the outside.Water can be substituted for milk in this recipe.
Ingredients
Pretzel Dough
- 380 grams (1.5 cups) Sourdough Starter, fresh starter is better than discard but either will work
- 28 grams (2 Tablespoons) Butter flavored Crisco or other vegetable shortening
- 25 grams (2 Tablespoons) sugar
- 254 grams (1 cup) plain oat/soy/almond milk warmed to 110 ℉
- 538 grams (4 cups) Self-rising flour or all purpose flour
Water bath
- 3 Tbsp baking soda
- 12 C. water
Pre-bake toppings
- 1 Tablespoon coconut oil or other oil
- 2 tsp sea salt for sprinkling coarse is best
Instructions
- Warm the milk (to 110 degrees F); add to the bowl with butter, sugar, and sourdough starter. Mix.
- Add the flour and mix well until the dough forms a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 3 minutes. Then form the dough into a smooth ball of dough and place into a lightly-oiled bowl.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest/rise for 2 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured counter. Punch the dough down and knead lightly for a brief minute or two. Then separate the dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll out each piece into a long strip 26-30″ in length. If you are slow to roll out the pieces, then cover the balls of dough with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out.
- Once the dough strips have been rolled out, shape them into a pretzel and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. You will need to use 2-3 cookie sheets.
- Place the cookie sheets in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. The goal is to allow the pretzels to harden just enough that they can be dunked in the water bath. Pretzels can be frozen up to a couple weeks if they are airtight in the freezer. Freeze them on the pan and then re-wrap them if you plan to freeze longer.
- With the pretzels in the freezer, preheat the oven to 450°F. Fill a large gallon stockpot with about 12 cups of water and bring to a strong simmer. Add 2-3 tbsp baking soda and allow to dissolve.
- Remove the pretzels from the freezer; add them to the water (2 at a time), and allow to simmer until they float to the top. Gently remove from their bath and place back on the parchment paper on the cookie sheet.- only takes about a minute or less to float.
- Brush with coconut oil and sprinkle with your choice of toppings. Bake at 450°F for 14-15 minutes until lightly brown. The color will partly depend on how much baking soda is in your water.
- Remove and allow to cool before enjoying.