Absolutely Incredible Sourdough Pretzels
At first glance, these sourdough soft pretzels may look like an intimidating endeavor, but can I take a second to assure you that they’re actually quite simple and hands-off?
As is the case with most sourdough recipes, the dough does take its sweet time rising and fermenting. Be prepared to make the dough one day, and then roll, dip, and bake the next. You definitely need patience, but the actual effort required is relatively low and the wait is worth it.
Sourdough soft pretzels taste miles better than anything you’ll find at the mall. They have a gorgeous golden brown coloring and subtle, sourdough-y depth of flavor. This recipe and my sourdough pizza crust are two of my all-time favorite ways to use my sourdough starter, if you have a jar sitting around all active and bubbly, this is a great way to put it to work!
Things to know about this recipe
Authentic, traditional pretzel flavor and appearance, thanks to old-fashioned technique and a lye bath. Note that lye must be handled properly. It’s safe if you take the proper precautions, but it’s not something to let the kids handle. If you’re not comfortable with it, I do offer an alternative in the recipe card. These are true sourdough pretzels, not sourdough discard pretzels. I prefer using the natural yeast from sourdough (just like when making sourdough bread or my sourdough dinner rolls) rather than using discard and supplementing with yeast. It takes a bit of advance planning. The dough will rise at room temperature for at least 5 hours, and then will need to ferment in the refrigerator overnight. I recommend starting the dough in the morning or early afternoon. It’s versatile. Make soft pretzel bites instead by cutting the dough ropes into bite-sized pieces instead of twisting. Season them classically with pretzel salt, or make a sweet cinnamon sugar version by brushing the baked pretzels with melted butter and sprinkling with cinnamon sugar.
What You Need
Bread flour. Using bread flour gives our sourdough soft pretzels a softer, chewier texture than all-purpose flour would yield. It’s a key ingredient here and in my artisan bread recipe. You can substitute all-purpose flour if it’s all you have, the pretzels just won’t be as chewy. Sourdough starter. You must use active sourdough starter for this recipe–do not use sourdough discard. If you have sourdough discard you want to use, try my sourdough chocolate chip cookies or sourdough crackers. Honey. A touch of honey feeds the yeast in the sourdough starter and adds flavor without making the pretzels too sweet. Alternatively use light brown sugar. Butter. This helps to enrich the dough and give the pretzels the proper flavor. Lye. While often used to make soaps and when cleaning, lye also has a traditional place in pretzel-making; it provides that golden brown color and classic pretzel taste. We’ll carefully dunk our sourdough soft pretzels in a lye bath before baking them to golden perfection. A note of caution: you must be VERY careful when working with lye. Please read this post and the recipe thoroughly before beginning! If you’re not comfortable using lye, I also include instructions to dip the pretzels in a baking soda bath instead. Pretzel salt. This is a coarse salt that is a classic soft pretzel topping. I link to the one I use below, but you could also use a coarse kosher or even sea salt. Or, switch things up and use everything bagel seasoning!
SAM’S TIP: If eating lye-coated pretzels scares you, don’t worry; baking the lye neutralizes it and makes it safe to consume. Or you can always use baking soda in its place–keep reading for instructions on this. 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 Sourdough Soft Pretzels
Make the pretzel dough
Shape the pretzels
Don’t feel bad if your pretzels aren’t the prettiest shape, it took me a long time to even get this far with mine and no matter how they look, they’ll taste amazing! SAM’S TIP: This dough is soft and it must be cold to be manageable, so you’ll use it right out of the fridge. If it gets too warm, simply pop it back in the fridge until you can handle it again.
Lye Bath & Bake
How to Safely Use Lye
While lye is safe to use as directed in this recipe, it is still a chemical that needs to be handled properly. Lye can be harmful if it touches your skin, if you consume it straight from the bottle, or if you breathe it in. As a result, when working with lye, you must do the following:
Wear safety gear. This includes gloves and eye goggles, and long sleeves aren’t a bad idea either. You don’t want the lye to touch your skin or really anything except your pretzels! Use adequate ventilation. I like to keep my kitchen vent fan on and open my windows if I can. Always add the lye to your water, and not the water to the lye. This can cause splashes, which we want to avoid since lye can ruin surfaces in your kitchen (wood, metal, granite, etc.). Dispose of the lye properly. You will want to neutralize the lye water with some vinegar first, then carefully and slowly pour it down your sink drain with some cold water. I describe this in detail in the recipe notes below.
For more detailed safety information, King Arthur flour has a detailed guide on working with lye safely.
If working with lye seems like too much of a hassle to you or you’re simply not comfortable with it, you can always use a baking soda bath instead. The pretzels won’t be quite as pretty (see below), but I do this with my homemade soft pretzels and soft pretzel bites, and they still taste amazing! I provide instructions on how to do this in the recipe card.
You can also make these into any shape you’d like: just cut them into small pieces to make sourdough soft pretzel bites instead (see above!).
Enjoy!
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