Soft Baked Pretzels (Dairy, Gluten, Egg, Soy, and Nut Free)

Why make allergy friendly Baked Pretzels?

This a recipe that my gluten eating husband said it didn’t taste gluten free!!! So, it is a win win for me because I love everything about these soft baked pretzels. The dough is simple to prepare, and the time you spend on it is enjoyable. I love how the Soft Baked Pretzels turn out perfectly crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.

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Ingredients & Substitutions

The difference between pretzels and regular bread:

Soft pretzels are just a yeast bread is that formed into a pretzel shape. The one big difference in pretzel making, as opposed to a regular bread, is that pretzels are boiled and then baked. It is the boiling that gives the outside of the pretzel its beautiful golden brown color and uniquely crisp and chewy texture.

How to make Soft Baked Pretzels

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and then once preheated turn off.
2. Proof yeast with plant-milk and agave in a bowl for 15 mins. Your yeast mixture should be foamy. If it didn’t foam about 1/4-1/2 inch on top, throw that batch out & repeat this step, because your yeast was bad.
3. In a kitchen aid, or by hand, add in all the flour mixture ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Once yeast mixture has foamed, add it into the flour mixture, till the batter is smooth. Batter should be very sticky and gooey, but not runny. It should be formable into a sticky ball.
5. Roll your dough into a ball on parchment paper and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour in a warmed, but turned off oven.
6. After 50 minutes bring water and baking soda to a boil and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Transfer dough onto your rolling surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. 
8. Roll out one piece of dough into a 15-18 inch rope and shape into the letter U. Take both ends and cross over each other twice. Fold them down and press lightly onto the bottom of the U shape.
9. Carefully transfer pretzel with a large spatula into the boiling baking soda bath for about 30 seconds. Gently lift out of the water and transfer onto the lined baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.
10. Let pretzels sit on the lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes until the oven is preheated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake in the oven for about 15-17 minutes until pretzels are golden brown.
12. Serve your baked pretzels hot. Store others once cooked in airtight container in fridge up to 2 weeks, or freezer up to 2 months.

Common Questions?

1. Why did my pretzels not rise? You either used yeast that was no longer good or you
2. Why do a baking soda water bath? In order to develop the characteristic pretzel dark brown exterior, it needs to be boiled in a basic solution. Traditional recipes use lye, but that’s dangerous, so most current ones use baking soda. If you just include it in the dough, it acts as a leavening agent, and doesn’t cause the browning. If you skip it, you get pale, depressing pretzels.

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