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a big pile of vegan soft pretzels on a table with mustard and beer
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4.80 from 5 votes

Vegan Soft Pretzel Recipe

This pretzel dough is forgiving and easy to work with. You can knead it in a stand mixer or by hand. Soft pretzels get their appealing chewiness from a quick poaching in water and baking soda before heading off to the oven. This extra step may seem like a bit of a hassle, but it's a small price to pay for the magic it creates.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Additional Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Snacks and Starters
Cuisine: American
Servings: 16
Calories: 190kcal
Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (475 ml) warm water (105°-110°F)
  • 1 tablespoon (12 grams) sugar
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons 8 grams/1 packet active dry yeast
  • 5 ½ cups (660 grams) bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons (10 grams) fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive or safflower oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons (30 grams) baking soda
  • Pretzel salt or coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

  • In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the water and sugar and stir to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast overtop and set aside for 10 minutes in a warm spot in the kitchen. Yeast will be foamy.
  • Add one cup of flour to the bowl and stir with a spoon or on low with the dough hook until incorporated. Then add salt and remaining flour. Stir with a spoon or the dough hook until combined, about one minute.
  • If kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface (no need to flour it), and knead until it loses most of its stickiness and becomes quite elastic, about ten minutes. (To knead, hold the dough in place with one hand and stretch it out in front of you with the heel of your other hand as shown in the photos above, then roll it back up on itself and repeat.) If using a stand mixer, turn machine to speed 2 and let the dough hook knead for about eight minutes.
  • Wash and dry the bowl, then pour about two teaspoons of the oil into it.
  • Place the dough back into the bowl and roll it to coat lightly with the oil on all sides.
  • Place a clean kitchen towel over the top of the bowl and set aside in a warm spot in the kitchen to rise. Dough is ready when it has approximately doubled in volume, which will take an hour or more depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
  • Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide into sixteen equal pieces.
  • One at a time, roll out each piece with your hands into an approximately 18-inch "snake," and then twist into a pretzel shape. See the video and step-by-step photos in the post for more details on shaping. See note 10 below if you'd like to make pretzel bites instead.
  • Set each pretzel on one of the baking sheets, leaving two inches of space on all sides. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover baking sheets with kitchen towels and set aside for 15 minutes while the pretzels complete their final rise.
  • Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°F with one rack ⅓ of the way up from the oven floor and another ⅓ of the way down from the top. If you have a convection oven, it's great to use here -- just set it to 425° instead.
  • Fill a large, heavy pot with four inches of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Pour in baking soda. Lower heat to maintain a slow simmer.
  • In batches of four to six depending on the size of your pot, gently place pretzels into the simmering water and poach for about 30 seconds, until they puff up and float. Transfer to prepared baking sheets.
  • Gently blot any excess off each pretzel with a paper towel and place back on the baking sheets. Brush each pretzel with a little oil and then sprinkle with a bit of coarse salt.
  • Place one baking sheet on the lower rack and one on the upper rack of the oven.
  • Bake pretzels for eight minutes, then reverse the positions of the baking sheets and bake eight to 12 minutes more, until pretzels are golden brown and cooked through.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature, preferably the same day they're made.

Notes

  1. Bread flour gives these pretzels a little bit of extra chewiness, but you can substitute all-purpose flour if that's what you've got. You can even use up to half whole wheat flour if you like.
  2. This recipe is best consumed on the day it's made. Pretzels will still taste good on subsequent days, but their gorgeous texture is a fleeting joy.
  3. If you have leftovers, store them in a paper bag at room temperature for 24 hours, or pop them into the freezer, individually wrapped, for up to three months.
  4. Wrap leftover soft pretzels in foil and heat in a 300°F oven or toaster oven until warmed through. You can remove the foil for the last minute or two to crisp up the exterior if you like.
  5. To serve these gorgeous pretzels with silky, dreamy cheese sauce, you've got two options: Make our favorite vegan cheese sauce or the cheese sauce from our epic vegetarian nachos.
  6. To make cinnamon sugar soft pretzels, here's all you have to do: On a dinner plate, mix together ½ cup granulated sugar and two tablespoons ground cinnamon. After removing each pretzel from the water bath, brush it with vegan or regular butter instead of oil and dip in cinnamon sugar before baking.. Alternatively, you can bake the pretzels first and dip in butter and cinnamon sugar while hot. This version more closely resembles Auntie Anne's pretzels — I leave it to you to decide whether this is a pro or a con.
  7. For buttery soft pretzels: Instead of brushing the pretzels with oil before baking, you can melt two tablespoons of butter (or vegan butter) and brush them with that instead. It makes a big difference in flavor, so if you're into buttery pretzels, this is the way to go. butter also browns a bit more deeply than oil due to its lower smoke point.
  8. If you are working on a sourdough starter and looking for ways to use up discard, this is a great place to do so. You can swap in up to one cup (224 grams) of unfed 100% hydration starter for ½ cup of the water and ½ cup of the flour in this recipe. Add it with the first addition of flour, and use the full amount of commercial yeast called for in the recipe.
  9. These pretzels have a delicious but neutral flavor profile that takes well to a wide variety of toppings. In addition to the suggestions above, you could try: Everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, grated parmesan cheese, truffle or herb salt. If you're not vegan, you could use egg wash (one egg mixed with a teaspoon of water) instead of oil or butter brushed on top before baking.
  10. To make pretzel bites, roll out each rope of dough to a length of about 10 inches, which will leave it thicker. Use a bench scraper or a sharp knife to cut each rope into 1-inch segments. Proceed with the recipe as written. Pretzel bites take 15 to 16 minutes in the oven.
I first published this recipe here in 2011, many years after having adapted it from Martha Stewart.

Nutrition

Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 33.7g | Protein: 4.5g | Fat: 3.9g | Fiber: 1.2g