Soft Pretzels, Philadelphia-Style

If you could have seen me yesterday morning, you’d no doubt have noticed the flour dusted all over the front of my t-shirt. But what I hope would have been most prominent was the satisfied smile on my face. I had just eaten a warm soft pretzel with a smear of mustard on top.

Yes, I’m celebrating the Phillies and their big win over the Dodgers Wednesday night, making them the twice-running National League champions. Phillies, I hope youse take it all the way.

But I’m also providing this recipe by request. Several of you have asked for recipes, techniques, and ideas, and I hope you’ll keep the requests coming. When I’m in the middle of several food writing projects, our family lives in a happy, happy mess. I’m working on your requests, and more will be unrolling within the coming weeks.

Now about these pretzels. A homemade soft pretzel can be excellent, but it might never have exactly the same flavor as a commercially-made pretzel because many commercial bakers spray pretzels with a solution containing 1% lye to 99% hot water. This solution changes the starches on the surface of the pretzel, giving the pretzel several new colors and flavor compounds as it bakes. Not to worry about the lye, however, because in the oven, carbon dioxide acts on the lye, rendering it harmless and edible. (I’m grateful to the wonderful Harold McGee and his incomparable On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, 2004 ed., p. 547, for this information.) It is possible for home bakers to purchase food-grade lye (check internet sources, but make sure what you're getting is food-grade, not soapmaking-grade), but it’s more convenient—not to mention safer—to use baking soda in the boiling water.

As I researched, I found a few different approaches to pretzel-making. Some recipes used hot milk in place of most of the water. Others used an enormous amount of sugar, up to three-fourths of a cup. Some recipes omitted the sugar or the salt, or both. When I read Alton Brown’s recipe “Homemade Soft Pretzels” I thought it seemed to make the most sense.

I recommend a few modifications and tips:

Flour: Replace half of the all-purpose flour with higher-protein bread flour, for the extra chewiness it will provide.

Kneading: If you have a Kitchen Aid Ultra Power 300-watt stand mixer, which is what I have, keep the speed at medium low. Any higher and your mixer might walk all over the counter. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can still make these. Use a wooden spoon for the initial mix. When the dough gets too stiff to stir, turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for about 10 minutes.

Rising the dough: To rise yeast dough, preheat your oven to its lowest temperature (mine goes down to 170˚). As soon as it comes to temperature, open the oven door, shut the oven off, and then close the door. In the time it takes to mix and knead the dough, the oven should cool to the perfect rising temperature, about 80˚.

Twisting the dough: For a classic Philly shape, you want these pretzels long and relatively narrow, with a short twist in the vertical middle. Here’s how to do it: Roll your dough into a rope 27 to 30 inches long, thicker in the middle. Keeping most of the rope on the work surface, lift the two ends and draw them toward each other; twist twice close to the end. Fold the twisted part to the opposite side. Tuck the ends under and press firmly.

Oiling the pans: Make sure there is plenty of oil on the baking pans. Because the raw dough will pick up some of the oil and take it into the bath, leaving a less-oiled pan to which the baking pretzels might stick, you might want to use 4 oiled pans, 2 pans for the pretzels waiting for their bath and 2 pans for the pretzels to bake on.

Pretzel salt: Because I had it in the house, I used kosher salt on top of the egg wash. While the pretzels were very good, they really cried for pretzel salt. You can find it here and here.

It didn’t take us any time at all to polish these off, which gluttony we rationalized by saying when they cooled they probably wouldn’t be as good anyway. The only thing missing was a tall mug of root beer.

Soft Pretzels, Philadelphia-Style

(recipe 99% Alton Brown’s; original recipe here )

1 ½ cups warm water (110 to 115˚)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

11 ounces all purpose flour (about 2 ¾ cups)

11 ounces bread flour (about 2 ¾ cups)

2 ounces (about 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

vegetable oil, for baking sheets

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, or until the mixture foams. Add the flour and the butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer dough to a second, oiled bowl, and roll it in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for about 50 minutes to an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450˚. Lightly brush two baking pans with vegetable oil.

Bring 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in a large saucepan.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each portion into a 27- to 30-inch rope. Twist into a Philly-pretzel shape, following the directions above. Place each pretzel on a baking sheet.

Using a spatula under one end of the pretzel and your free hand supporting the middle knot, lower each pretzel, one at a time, into the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from the water with the spatula. Return the pretzel to the baking pan; brush the top of each with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Bake until golden brown, about11 to14 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes before eating.