Soft Pretzel Bites: The Perfect Snack!
I think it’s fairly well-documented that I used to be intimidated by yeast recipes. While they can sometimes be tricky, I’ve come to realize they’re really nothing to be afraid of. If you’re still skittish about yeast (I get it!), how about making a resolution to face your fears this coming year (which is somehow only days away?!). I’ve got plenty of easy yeast recipes to guide you through, like my sticky buns, garlic knots, pizza dough, and of course, these homemade soft pretzel bites. This recipe is easy, fairly quick (instant yeast makes a difference!) and truly delicious. It also comes highly requested, and if you’re not new to the yeast recipes around here you’ll notice that the ingredients and steps are very similar to my homemade soft pretzels recipe, which has become a staple around here. It’s also the perfect appetizer for new year’s eve, so let’s get started!
What You Need
You only need a few ingredients to make homemade soft pretzel bites:
Bread flour. For best-tasting pretzel bites, I suggest you use bread flour for the perfect chewy texture. You could use all-purpose flour in a pinch, but your pretzel bites will turn out more fluffy than chewy.Brown sugar. Just a little bit of light brown sugar feeds our yeast and adds flavor without making the pretzels sweet. Yeast. Use rapid rise or instant yeast–do not use active dry! I designed this recipe with instant yeast, so if you use regular yeast, your rise time will be much longer and you won’t be able to follow the recipe as instructed. Baking soda. Similar to how you make my homemade bagels, we’ll boil our uncooked pretzel bites before baking them. While bagels are boiled in water with honey or barley malt syrup, pretzels need to be boiled in baking soda water for a characteristically chewy interior, golden brown exterior, and distinct pretzel flavor. Pretzel salt. If you have a hard time finding pretzel salt, you could always use coarse sea salt instead.Unsalted butter. Just a little bit of melted butter enriches the dough. Like most of my recipes, I recommend you use unsalted butter! Egg. We’ll combine the egg with water to make a quick egg wash before baking.
SWEET OR SALTY: I typically just sprinkle these with pretzel salt because that’s how Zach likes them. For a sweet version, you can skip the salt, brush them with melted butter after baking, and toss in cinnamon/sugar. Make a batch of my chocolate cream cheese icing or regular cream cheese icing for dipping, too! Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
SAM’S TIP: If the dough gets too sticky while you’re trying to roll it into ropes, you can add a sprinkle of flour to your surface or dust your hands with flour. Use sparingly, though, as too much flour can actually make the dough even harder to work with. When I developed this recipe I had high hopes of sharing a beer cheese dip to go along with it (the dip shown in the photos is one of my entirely edible but also not nearly good enough for the blog attempts). Unfortunately, I couldn’t get that recipe quite nailed down but let me know if it’s something you’d like to see here on the blog and I’ll get back to it! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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