Making homemade pretzels is so easy when you use your bread machine. Bread Machine Pretzels are soft and chewy just like vendor style pretzels.
These buttery, soft pretzels are great for snacks and super popular for game day food. Pretzels taste great plain but even more scrumptious dipped into cheese sauce, mustard sauce or even my Homemade Marinara Sauce.
How to make the dough.
Super easy and doesn’t require any fancy ingredients.
Simply place ingredients in the order listed and set machine to dough mode.
Perfect dough every time!
Divide the dough into equal pieces, then roll into ropes 18-20 inches long.
Shaping the pretzels may take a bit of practice to master perfectly knotted pretzels. But don’t fret they taste great no matter how they look. Simmering in baking soda water may sound very strange but it is a must to achieve the flavor, soft interior and golden brown crust. Be careful when pouring baking soda into simmering water as it instantly foams up, so sprinkle a bit at a time.
Be sure to generously brush pretzels with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Pretzels taste best fresh and warm right out of the oven, but you can store them for up to 2 days in an airtight container. To reheat, microwave for 10-15 seconds.
Bread Machine Pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 cup water room temperature
- 1 tbsp butter room temperature
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp dry active yeast
- 6 cups water for cooking water
- 1/3 cup baking soda for cooking water
- 1 egg to brush on before baking
- 2-3 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tsp coarse salt for topping
Instructions
- Place 1 cup water, butter, sugar, salt, flour and dry yeast in bread machine pan in order listed. Do not mix.
- Select Dough setting and press start.
- When cycle is complete, remove dough and transfer to lightly floured surface.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Divide dough into 6 equal portions.
- Roll each piece of dough into a 18-20 inch rope.
- Shape rope into U, take 2 ends and cross over 1 or 2 times. Bring end towards you, fold down leaving ends over-hang a bit. Press down a bit where dough intersects at the bottom.
- Prepare baking soda water. Using large pot bring 6 cups of water to rapid simmer. Add baking soda slowly to water, stir to dissolve. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer.
- Place 1 to 2 pretzels into water. Do not overcrowd pot.
- Cook for 30 seconds, flip and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Using large slotted ladle remove pretzels and transfer to baking sheet.
- Prepare egg wash by whisking together egg with 1 tsp of water.
- Brush pretzels with egg wash. Sprinkle with coarse salt. My favorite is coarse sea salt.
- Bake 400ºF for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and brush generously with melted butter.
Nutrition
This recipe is awesome!!! The first time I made it the dough came out so perfect and not sticky at all! My family loved loved loved the pretzels! The second time the dough was more sticky, no idea why as I followed instructions to a T! They still tasted awesome, just a little more work to get them to look like pretzels!! Thank you for sharing this!!
Thank you so much BobbyJo
My husband couldn’t get enough!
Thank you Karen for taking the time to rate and comment on my recipe. Happy you and your husband enjoyed the pretzels.
Do I use instant rise yeast or regular?
Hey Ted, I use regular yeast.
Made these at bites instead of full pretzels for a party! They turn out great that way too! Just cut the ropes into bite sized pieces instead of twisting them into actual pretzels and voila! Definitely going to become a staple for birthday parties in our house!!
Turned out magnificently !
That is great Jackie. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment and rate the recipe!
So good! Thank you! I made them into pretzels yesterday and got a request for turning them into buns today for sandwiches. My husband made a breakfast sandwich with it and it was delicious. 🙂
Thank-you Monica, I have made them into buns as well. So good with a great stew.
So the pretzels were good. BUT. You cannot have a lightly oiled wax paper in a 400 degree oven. The paper got stuck to the bottom of the pretzels and burned a lot. I had to cut off the bottoms to eat them. Otherwise, they were ok.
Nick why were you using wax paper?? The recipe called for parchment paper. Wax paper should never be used in an oven!
Should you proof the yeast before adding to bread machine since it is not bread machine or instant yeast?
I have used regular traditional yeast, no proofing, and the dough turned out just fine. If you prefer you can use bread machine yeast.
Would you use the same amount of instant/bread machine yeast as regular yeast?
Yes Cynthia it would be the same amount of yeast. Enjoy.
Hi. What’s the best way to transfer the pretzels to the water without losing their shape?
Hi Debra,
I usually transfer them to the water using a large strainer ladle.
If I want to make the dough the day before, how do you recommend I store it? I am going to use it to wrap around hotdogs as a project in the assisted living facility where I work. Have you ever tried that? Any suggestions?
Hi Barbara, I have never made the dough ahead of time, so I’m sorry without testing it I’m not sure the outcome you will get.
Just tried your recipe and it came out amazing. Instead of salt, I did a cinnamon sugar as well as a garlic parmesan topping.
Cinnamon sugar sounds very tasty Cherie!
Have you ever tried using gluten free bread? I’ve tried 3 different recipes and cannot get the dough to cooperate. Any suggestions for food allergies?
Hi Dawn, I wish I could offer a suggestion, but I have not ever made gluten free bread in my bread machine.