Homemade Soft Pretzels {Auntie Anne’s Copycat}
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Perfect Homemade Soft Pretzels! This Copycat Auntie Anne’s Pretzels Recipe is a must-try recipe for your Super Bowl party food spread! You get a chewy yet fluffy, deliciously tender, beautifully golden brown homemade pretzel that will have you savoring every last flavorful, salty little bite.
Copycat Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Recipe
Mall pretzels that you can now enjoy in the comfort of your home for a fraction of the price with countless dipping sauce option! They are the perfect party food or snack to impress guests with and they really are easier to make than you’d think.
Making homemade pretzels is a similar process to making a bread or rolling dough, but instead you shape it into a pretzel versus a loaf or roll. The pretzel shaping is actually fun once you get the hang of it.
These homemade soft pretzels are one of those crave-worthy foods that may take a bit of time and some patience, but the end result is so worth it. It’s a great recipe for a weekend “learn how to” baking project then from there it may become a monthly tradition!
Photography credit: Jenn Davis from Two Cups Flour.
Homemade Soft Pretzel Ingredients
For this homemade pretzel dough recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Milk (I like to use 2% here)
- Active dry yeast
- Brown sugar
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Fine salt and coarse salt
- Baking soda
Why is There so Much Baking Soda?
The seemingly excessive amount of baking soda here actually isn’t used as rising agent, rather it gives the homemade pretzels a crisp, nicely browned exterior.
How to Make Soft Pretzels at Home
- Warm milk and stir in yeast, let rest pour into stand mixer. Mix in brown sugar, butter, 1 cup flour, fine salt.
- Add remaining flour and knead using hook attachment on stand mixer. Cover and let rise until doubled.
- Preheat oven and prepare baking sheets.
- Punch dough down and divide into 12 pieces. Cover.
- Working with one piece at a time roll into a thin rope about 32 – 36 inches then form into a pretzel shape.
- In a shallow bowl whisk together baking soda and water then immerse pretzel into water mixture then transfer to prepared baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with coarse salt to taste and repeat process with remaining dough.
- Bake in oven until golden brown then brush with melted butter.
Can I Make Them into Pretzel Bites?
Yes! If you’d rather make them bite-sized, follow the same prep method but rather roll into ropes then cut into 1-inch pieces instead of shaping into pretzels. Pretzel bites are a kid’s favorite Super Bowl party snack.
What Are the Best Pretzel Dipping Sauces?
- Homemade cheese sauce
- Marinara sauce
- Caramel sauce
- Chocolate sauce
- Mustard sauce or honey mustard
- Whipped cream cheese
Tips for the Best Homemade Soft Pretzels
- The easiest way to divide into 12 pieces is to divide the dough in half, then divide the halves into halves then those and into thirds.
- I found working on a non-floured to very lightly floured surface worked best. I began with a lightly floured surface and realized it was much harder to get more stretch, plus it was much faster to roll them out when working on a less-no flour surface.
- Serve these homemade pretzels warm. I’ve included instructions on how to reheat pretzels below!
How to Reheat Pretzels
How ever you dunk your homemade pretzels, I recommend you eat them warm — they just aren’t the same cold. Can’t you just see that moment now, where you pull your own batch from the oven and tear off piece by piece and dip it into a rich sauce and you savor every last crumb of it? Heaven!
Here’s how to reheat pretzels:
- Microwave: The quickest method is to reheat on a plate in a microwave for 10 – 15 seconds.
- Oven or Toaster Oven: preheat to 400 degrees F. Wrap pretzel in foil and heat until warmed through, about 3 minutes.
Other Delicious Pretzel Recipes to Try:
- Auntie Anne’s Copycat Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites (Nuggets) with Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce
- Rolo Pretzels (3 Ingredients)
- Pretzel M&M Hugs {Christmas Style}
- Honey Chipotle Nut and Pretzel Mix
Follow Easy Cooking Zone
Homemade Soft Pretzels (Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzel Recipe)
Ingredients
- 2 cups (470ml) milk (I used 2%)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast (2 packets)
- 6 Tbsp (75g) packed light-brown sugar
- 4 Tbsp (56g) butter, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups (635g) all-purpose flour, plus an up to an additional 1/2 cup as needed
- 2 tsp fine salt
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- 3 cups (710ml) warm water
- coarse salt , to taste
- 6 Tbsp (56g) butter , melted
- Dipping sauce for serving , optional*
Instructions
- Warm milk in a microwave safe bowl in microwave (or alternately over stove top in a small saucepan) until temperature of milk reaches 110 degrees, about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on HIGH power.
- Pour milk along with yeast into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk together until yeast has dissolved, let rest 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, 4 tbsp softened butter, 1 cup flour and 2 tsp fine sea salt to milk mixture and using the whisk attachment, stir until blended.
- Switch attachment to a dough hook, add remaining 3 1/2 cups flour and kneaded mixture on medium low speed until elastic.
- Mix in up to an additional 1/2 cup flour, as needed, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper (alternately you could grease them). Punch dough down several times to release any air pockets.
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces* and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- Roll each piece out into a long, thin rope about 32 - 36 inches long**. Form dough rope into a pretzel shape.
- In a shallow bowl, whisk together baking soda and warm water then fully immerse pretzel into water mixture, lift and allow excess water to drip off***.
- Place on prepared baking sheet, reshape as needed and sprinkle to taste with coarse salt. Repeat this process with remaining dough.
- Bake pretzels in preheated oven 7 - 11 minutes until golden brown (note that you will likely only be able to cook 6 at a time among the two baking sheets) Remove from oven and brush top and bottom of pretzels with melted butter.
- Serve warm with optional dipping sauce. Reheat in microwave or in a warm oven once they've cooled, if desired.
Notes
- *The easiest way to divide into 12 pieces is to divide the dough in half, then divide the halves into halves then those and into thirds.
- ** I found working on a non-floured to very very lightly floured surface worked best, I began with a lightly floured surface and realized it was much harder to get more stretch, plus it was much faster to roll them out when working on a less-no flour surface.
- ***I ended up shaping most of them into the pretzel shape once placing on the cookie sheet rather then doing it twice, I would just fold the rope into halves several times then immerse in water mixture then shape them on cookie sheet.
- Recipe source: adapted from Food Network