I am a pretzel fiend. I love their salty, crunchy goodness. If I’m going on a long road trip, I always bring pretzels for the ride. If there is a bowl of chocolate candy sitting next to a bowl of pretzels, I will reach for the pretzels almost every time. I know, I know… picking pretzels over chocolate may seem a bit insane to some of you but I love me some pretzels.
With the SuperBowl fast approaching, I have been in “what-would-be-a-great-nibble-for-SuperBowl-party” mode. Pretzels! Of course! Bite-sized pretzels for a crowd.
Homemade Pretzel Bites are surprisingly easy and fun to make. Here’s how I made these bite-sized puffs of yumminess. After letting instant yeast sit in warm water for 5 minutes, I mixed in salt, brown sugar and butter. I then added flour, one cup at a time, and mixed it well between each addition. I used an electric stand mixture with a dough hook attachment to mix the flour into the yeast mixture. After adding all the flour, the dough started pulling away from the mixing bowl I knew the dough was almost ready to knead.
There’s a few ways to check if the dough is ready for kneading. The dough will form a ball with no little bits on the bottom of the mixing bowl, it should look silky and it should bounce back if poked. If the dough was still sticky at this point (not bouncing back but sticking to my fingers instead), I would’ve added more flour one tablespoon at a time.
I poked my dough and it bounced back so I began to knead the dough. I kneaded the dough for 5 minutes with the electric mixer on medium low. You can also knead the dough by hand if you want to work out some frustrations! 😉Next, I used a little oil, only enough to grease a large bowl. I transferred the dough into the bowl and moved it around so the oil coated the bread. I covered the bowl with a towel and set it in a warm place for an hour to let the dough rise.
After an hour, I turned out the dough onto a lightly floured flat surface and kneaded the dough, by hand, about 5 more times. Now it was time to cut the dough into little bite-sized pieces. I cut the big ball of dough into 6 equal-ish pieces. As you can tell by the picture below, they aren’t exactly equal. LOL
Then I rolled each piece until it was about 22 to 24 inches long. I used a measuring tape and made tic marks at one and a half inch increments in the rolled pieces of dough before cutting. I had about 90 Homemade Pretzel Bites when I was done cutting.
This was the fun part, I added the bite-sized dough pieces to a pan of boiling baking soda water for 30 seconds. When I added the pieces of dough into a pan of boiling water, they puffed up. Pretty cool. I removed the puffed pieces with a slotted spoon and laid them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper so that no pieces are touching. With a pastry brush, add an egg wash to the top of each piece and then sprinkle with sea salt. I popped the Homemade Pretzels Bites into the oven for 15 minutes and YUM… I had the most delicious Homemade Pretzel Bites!
I hope you make these Homemade Pretzel Bites. They are so darn good, it’s hard to stop eating them. Try these with my Cheese Dip Made With Beer. If you do make them, take a picture and tag #acupoffrosting. Enjoy!
Homemade Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 1 packet 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For the Topping
- 8 cups boiling water
- ½ cup baking soda
- 1 egg beaten
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yeast into the warm water. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Add salt, brown sugar, and melted butter to the bowl and whisk until combined.
- Slowly add flour, one cup at a time. Using the dough hook attachment on a stand mixer or a wooden spoon if manually mixing in the flour, mix until dough is thick and no longer sticky. Mix until there is no crumbles left in the bottom of the bowl. If using a stand mixer the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it is still sticky, add more flour one tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition of flour, until the dough is not sticky. You should be able to poke the dough with your finger - if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
- If using stand mixer, continuing kneading the dough with the dough hook for 5 minutes on medium-low. If you are not using a stand mixer, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then shape into a ball. Place in a large greased mixing bowl. Cover and let the dough rest in a warm area for an hour. The dough should double in size.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Transfer the dough ball onto a cutting board and cut the dough into 6 sections. Roll the dough into six 20-inch long ropes. Cut the rope into 1.5 inch pieces to make bites.
- In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water and the baking soda to a rapid boil. Boil 15-20 pretzel bites at a time, for 30 seconds. They will increase in size. Remove with a large slotted spoon and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Make sure the bites aren't touching.
- Brush beaten egg over the top of each pretzel bite. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake batches for 15 minutes each, or until golden brown. Only bake one pan at a time.
- Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before eating.