It is Monday. Do you know what that means?
Today is the kick-off of Soft Pretzel Week!
And what better way to get started than a sweet surprise? Namely, cinnamon sugar soft pretzels.
These babies are delicious. I could tell just from the scent of the dough that these were going to be great, with a little spice from the cinnamon and just enough sweetness.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast (just over 1 packet)
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing and the pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
Instructions
- Combine the 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once the yeast is foamy (approximately 3-5 minutes), add the flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Using the dough hook attachment, knead 5-6 minutes, or until the dough forms a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Savvy Tip: If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand on a floured surface!
- Transfer the dough to a well-greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
- Preheat the oven to 450F. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
- In a large stockpot, bring the rest of the water and baking soda to a boil.
- Meanwhile, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3/4″-thick long rope, curve into a U-shape, then cross the ends over to create the traditional pretzel shape.
- Boil each pretzel for 30 seconds. Use a slotted spatula to transfer the pretzel to the greased cookie sheet.
- Mix the remaining cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Brush each pretzel with olive oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture.
- Bake at 450F for 13-16 minutes, or until the surface is browned and starts to crackle. Immediately transfer to a cooling rack, and allow to cool at least partially before serving.
Copyrighted by Julie Grice and Savvy Eats
Coming up on Soft Pretzel Week:
- A savory pretzel recipe
- Brain Food 101: Why you need to boil the pretzels before baking
- Brain Food 101: The best way to freeze soft pretzels
Tell me: what else do you want to see on soft pretzel week? A step-by-step tutorial? Another recipe? A dipping sauce recipe? Tell me!
I like the idea of a Step by Step and would love to see an everything pretzel. I am hungry just looking at these.
Oooh, that sounds good!
Oooh dipping sauce sounds awesome! Sweet and savory versions
Any special flavor requests? Cheesy, spicy, oil & vinegar mixture? OR: chocolate, cream cheese icing, other?
Cheesy would be great with the normal pretzel, and cream cheese icing sounds AMAZING with the cinnamon….or on my fingers…
I’ve never made soft pretzels before – this looks like a great recipe to try!
I love soft pretzels, great theme week:-)
These are my FAVORITE kind of pretzels!! Love them!
Do you have a good cream cheese icing recipe I could use as a dip?
OMG I LOVE soft pretzels! A step by step tutorial would be great!
Coming right up!
I’m SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS RECIPE!
gimme that step by step tutorial! and I’d looove a dip recipe to go along with them.
and a traditional pretzel recipe!
any idea what the nutrition stats are on these babies? that’s the only thing that would make me hesitant to make them.
because I’m pretty sure I’d NEVER. stop. eating. them.
I have a traditional soft pretzel recipe here: http://www.savvyeat.com/homemade-soft-pretzels/
I also have a post coming up on the easiest way to freeze the pretzels to bake them later… so while I don’t know the nutritional stats off hand, at least if they are frozen, it is easier to control portions!
remember when i was recently asking you about the promise to recreate everyones favorite spicy cheese bread? i have an idea – SPICY CHEESE PRETZELS!
um, YES. That sounds amazing!
I baked these at 450 and checked them at 10 minutes. They were completely burned! Insides are still raw though. I think I’ll try them again some other time at 400 degrees. The dough sure smelled good!
Oh no!! I’ve made many batches of soft pretzels, and never had that problem before… maybe your oven runs a little hot? Or mine runs a little cool… the oven in our old apartment (where I last made these) was very, very old.