I've always loved Auntie Anne's soft pretzels. Recently I was in Rehoboth Beach at the outlets and saw one of their trucks in the parking lot. I almost bought one, but decided against it since we had been eating a lot all weekend...but they have been on my mind since! A few days ago I was using Play-Doh with my twin toddlers and I started making the dough into pretzel shapes for them. Then I looked up a video online about how to shape the pretzels like they do at Auntie Anne's and showed it to them. They've never had soft pretzels before so I decided last night to give it a try using this copycat recipe.
This recipe really does taste just like the ones from Auntie Anne's! I added in the additional 1/2 cup of flour. I did not divide the dough into 12 pieces and cover it - I just kept all of the dough in the bowl and kept taking bits of it to work with at a time. I found the dough easy to work with using a large Silpat baking mat, with nothing on it (no flour or oil needed). I lined my baking sheets with parchment paper for easy clean up. The only issue I had was in trying to shape the pretzels and keep their shape after dipping them in the water/baking soda mixture, so I made some into pretzel sticks. Instead of placing the whole pretzel in the water, I should have held the pretzel together better while dipping it in. I think when I make them next I will try to find some actual pretzel salt to use on top rather than coarse salt, but otherwise I would make them the same way. Oh, and don't omit the warm water/baking soda bath - that is what makes them taste so much like Auntie Anne's!
There are a few other copycat recipes out there, like this one which is similar but slightly different, and has great photos! You can also shape them into bite-size nuggets like in this recipe. Some recipes have you put the salt on before baking, others have you put the melted butter and salt on after baking.
These were a hit with my toddlers and they enjoyed dipping them in mustard and homemade honey mustard. If you love soft pretzels, give this recipe a try!
Homemade Soft Pretzels (Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzel Recipe)
Recipe Courtesy Cooking Classy Blog
This Auntie Anne's Pretzels copycat recipe is one you are going to want to try. You get a chewy yet fluffy, perfectly tender, beautifully golden-brown pretzel that will have you savoring every last flavorful, salty little bite.
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1½ Tablespoons active dry yeast (2 packets)
6 Tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
4½ cups all-purpose flour (divided), plus an up to an additional ½ cup as needed
2 teaspoons fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
3 cups warm water
Coarse salt or pretzel salt, to taste
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
Dipping sauce for serving, optional*
Warm milk in a microwave safe bowl in microwave (or alternately over stove top in a small saucepan) until temperature of milk reaches 110º, about 1½ - 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 tablespoons softened butter, 1 cup flour and 2 teaspoons fine sea salt to milk mixture and using the whisk attachment, stir until blended.
Switch attachment to a dough hook, add remaining 3½ cups flour and kneaded mixture on medium low speed until elastic.
Mix in up to an additional ½ 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 450º. 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 into a smooth ball and then roll out into a long, thin rope about 32 - 36 inches long**. Form dough rope into a pretzel shape, or make them into pretzel sticks. If you would 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.
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 or pretzel 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, or use tongs to dip them in melted butter.
Serve warm with optional dipping sauce. Reheat in microwave or in a warm oven once they've cooled, if desired.
Yield: 12 servings.
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 than doing it twice, I would just fold the rope into halves several times then immerse in water mixture then shape them on cookie sheet.
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.
Recipe source: adapted from Food Network
Update April 2022:
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