Homemade Pretzel Bites
Homemade Pretzel Bites taste just like the soft, chewy buttery nuggets we all love to snack on at the mall and in airports.
Servings: 3 dozen
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit), divided
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup baking powder
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
Instructions
- In medium sized mixing bowl, gently mix 1 ½ cups of the water with the active dry yeast until just combined. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the yeast to sit for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
- After 5 minutes, add the yeast mixture to a large bowl with the sugar, oil, flour, and remaining water. Use a whisk or wooden spoon to combine the ingredients until the dough begins to pull away from the mixing bowl and form a large, crumbly ball (about 2 minutes).
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes to develop the gluten. After 3 minutes, place the dough back in the mixing bowl for 45 minutes, or until the dough has about doubled in size.
- Roll the dough out into a sheet about ¼ inch thick and cut into small rectangles. Roll each rectangle to form a cylindrical shape and place the pretzel bites on a large baking sheet lightly coated with oil or nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together 3 cups of water with the baking powder until the baking powder has dissolved. Dip each pretzel bite into the baking soda water and return to the baking sheet. Top the pretzels with the coarse sea salt.
- Bake your pretzels for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
The baking soda and water mixture is what gives pretzels their distinct flavor and outer texture. You want to make sure the pretzel bites are fully coated in the mixture, but don’t want to oversaturate them. For reference, you do not want to let the pretzel bites sit for more than 5 seconds in the mixture. If they sit for too long they will have a very strong baking soda flavor.
The sugar is an important ingredient in making sure the yeast is well fed. This ensures a nice chewy texture that you expect with any pretzel.