Soft Pretzels Two Ways: Salted & Raisin with Sugar Glaze

I love soft pretzels. Ever since an aunt treated me to Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels in the early 2000’s, I’ve always looked out for them whenever I go to any mall: so far, I’ve had them in Manila, Bangkok, Houston, Dubai and Kuwait.

The first time I made soft pretzels, I didn’t have the patience to let them rise properly. I popped them into the oven after only a half hour of rising. They came out 2-3 times larger and fluffier than when I put them in with the outside a crusty brown and under-cooked on the inside. Since then, I’ve learnt to be patient when working with yeast.

The recipe I use is a slightly altered version of Alton Brown’s soft pretzel recipe. I made it slightly sweeter and I halve the dough to make two types of pretzels: Salted for Travis and Raisin with Sugar Glaze for Olga.

SOFT PRETZELS Ingredients Pretzel Dough 1½ cups warm water 1 tbsp granulated white sugar 4 tbsp soft brown sugar, packed 2½ tsp active dry yeast 4½ cups flour 50g unsalted butter, melted For the water bath 10 cups water 2/3 cups baking soda For the salted pretzels Coarse sea salt For the raisin pretzels ½ cup raisins 1½ tbsp. unsalted butter, melted For the raisin sugar glaze 1 cup powdered sugar ½ tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp milk Instructions ·        Combine the water, white sugar, brown sugar and salt in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 15 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add flour and butter and 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 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then grease it well with butter. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp towel and sit in a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. ·        Once the dough has doubled in size, divide into two. One will be for the salted pretzels, the other, raisin. ·        For the raisin pretzels, take dough and mix with raisins. Place separately in a well-greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth while working on the salted pretzels. ·        Take the remaining dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch rope.  Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan and let rest. Do the same with the raisin dough. ·        Preheat the oven to 400oF. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with butter. Set aside. ·        Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an saucepan. ·        Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture. Sprinkle the salt pretzels with coarse salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 15 minutes. ·        Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush the raisin pretzels thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up. ·        Transfer all pretzels to a cooling rack. ·        For the glaze, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in a small bowl. Drizzle the icing over the warm raisin pretzels.