Buttery Soft Glazed Raisin Pretzels

soft-pretzel-cover-03-marked.jpg-desatHow do you like your pretzels? I like the soft and chewy variety, the kind that almost melts in your mouth as you close your eyes and pretend you're in pretzel heaven. I've always had a soft spot (no pun intended) for a certain soft pretzel from a certain store in the mall. You know the one I'm talking about. Until now, I never would have thought I could enjoy one just as delicious in my own home...and they would be EASY to make.

This recipe uses instant yeast which makes it super quick, and while it may seem labor intensive at first, it really isn't. I adapted this recipe from King Arthur Flour, and decided to add raisins to half of my dough, and add a glaze over the finished pretzel to make it as close as possible to my favorite kind from that certain store we mentioned earlier.  The result? Pretty darn close if you ask me. Move over Auntie Anne, there's a new aunt in town...Auntie Amber. :)

soft-pretzel-cover-02-marked.jpg-desatButtery Soft Glazed Raisin Pretzels


(Yield: 8 large pretzels)  Printable Recipes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
7/8 to 1 cup warm water*
*Use the greater amount in the winter, the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.
1/4-1/2 cup raisins

Topping
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons baking soda
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted


Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tablespoon milk or half & half


To make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Since I wanted half plain and half raisin pretzels, I divided the dough in half at this point. Place the plain half in a floured bowl and turn to coat. Add 1/4 cup raisins to the other half of the the dough still in the mixer, and mix until combined. (If you want all raisin pretzels, use 1/2 cup raisins and there's no need to divide the dough in half). Place the raisin dough in the floured bowl and turn to coat also.

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Take both halves of dough and place them each in a plastic bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

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To make dough with a food processor: Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in the work bowl of a food processor equipped with the steel blade. Process for 5 seconds. Add the water, and process for 7 to 10 seconds, until the dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl. Process a further 45 seconds. Place a handful of flour in a bowl, scoop the slack dough into the bowl, and shape the dough into a ball, coating it with the flour. Transfer the dough to a plastic bag, close the bag loosely, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, prepare the topping: Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Pour the mixture into a pan and set aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces. (If you halved the dough for two different flavors, divide each half into 4 equal pieces.)

soft-pretzel
Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 3" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Working with 4 pretzels at a time, place them in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. This baking soda "bath" will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.

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Transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

soft-pretzel

Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their wonderful taste.

Mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and enough milk to reach your desired pouring consistency. I used about 1-2 tablespoons of half & half. Drizzle the icing over the warm pretzels.

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Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

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If you live at our house, and you happen to be a 5 year old little boy, the leftover baking soda bath can even be the ideal playground for your Lego men...after you've played with the dough and eaten way too many pretzels of course.

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10 comments:

Belinda @zomppa said...

These look like such sweet treats!!

Missy Shay said...

OK, I had to pin this recipe too! Looks delicious!

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar said...

This sweet pretzel warms my heart! Yum!

Gaby said...

What a yummy recipe and photos. You have a very nice blog!

Choc Chip Uru said...

I am ashamed that this is the first time I am visiting your blog - this recipe looks astoundingly delicious and all warm and drippy perfect for breakfast :D
Rest assured I will be on your blog a lot more!

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Choc Truffle Chunk Muffins + Surprise Choc Cookies

Andrea said...

Well I've just made them (halved the recipe), didn't do the icing as just wanted to try them plain. Really yummy, just had 2 of them and am really hoping that my husband won't notice that I'm about to eat the third. They came out looking like pretzels as well, though the dough was very soft (is it supposed to be)? Also really pleased that you showed how to do the pretzel shape. Now want to try your cinnamon rolls - with mashed potato! Before it gets too hot here in sunny Spain!

Unknown said...

Hi Andie!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them. Yes, the dough is supposed to be soft. I don't know if you are familiar with Auntie Anne's soft pretzel's, but this recipe is pretty much just like those soft pretzels. Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you! :)

Andrea said...

I'm not familiar with Auntie Anne's pretzels, but when I lived in England there was a sandwich place which used to do similar savoury pretzels which I used to buy. Have found other pretzel recipes online, but yours just seemed more user friendly and they are certainly tasty! Think I might keep the cinnamon rolls until the weekend, but have gone out and bought twix bars to try your cookies with. Oh dear so many of your recipes to try and not enough hours in the day!

Averie @ Averie Cooks said...

GLAZIN RAISIN Baby! OMG AMBER!!! Sorry to scream but they are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just made pretzels the other day and posted them using the King Arthur ratios but I adapted it and did it to be 1 hour pretzels.

I used to work in the mall in h.s. next to an Auntie Anne's and would get a Glazin Raisin a few times per week.

PINNED!!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the pin Averie! Yes, I adore glazin raisin pretzels, and these taste just like them...so good!






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