October means Oktoberfest! As soon as October hits, I immediately start craving pretzels, beer, and find myself baking up a storm. My homemade soft beer pretzel hits the spot, I’m using my favorite mustard, Colman’s, to dip them in, and I’m showing you how to twist a pretzel…which is much less complicated than you may think!
Soft Beer Pretzel with Mustard
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warm 110 to 115 degrees F water (I use closer to 1 cup in the summer and somewhere in between during the fall/spring)
- 3/4 cup beer it’s October so grab your favorite seasonal pumpkin beer!
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 packet or 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- ½ stick unsalted butter melted
- 4 ½-5 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- flavorless oil for greasing (like sunflower seed, canola, or vegetable)
- 10 cups water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Sea salt or pretzel salt to finish
- Colman’s Mustard for dipping
Instructions
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In the bowl of a standing mixer, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Mix by swishing with your hand. Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit for 5 minutes. If it hasn’t foamed, your yeast is dead and you need to try again with new yeast.
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On low speed with the dough hook attachment, add the beer, melted butter, flour, and salt. When combined, turn up the speed to medium. Knead until the dough is smooth and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 4-5 minutes. If the dough is still too wet, you can add 1 tbsp of flour at a time.
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Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl, and then lightly oil the bowl with a flavorless oil, like sunflower seed, canola, or vegetable. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or seal the container with a lid, and place in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, ~50-60 minutes.
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Preheat to 450F. Bring the water to boil with the baking soda.
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Line two baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper. Lightly grease with oil. Set aside.
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Lightly oil the surface you plan to use to work the dough. Turn out the dough on the surface, divide into 8 equal pieces, and roll each piece out into a long rope, ~2 feet long.
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To shape the pretzels, make a U-shape with the rope, twist the parallel arms across each other twice, and press the ends into the bottom of the U to form the pretzel.
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Boil the pretzels, 1-2 at a time, for ~30 seconds, ladling the warm water over the tops of the pretzels.
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As they finish, transfer them to the prepared sheet pans, brush with the egg wash, and sprinkle with salt.
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Bake until golden brown, 11-14 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Team salty pretzel?
My hubby doesn’t like salt on his pretzels. Please tell me he’s the only one out there who feels that way. I’m team salty pretzel, but hubby likes them with sesame seeds…Is that even a pretzel anymore? Pretzels need salt. And mustard. Mmmk? But being the nice person I am (sometimes) I did a little experimenting…some with salt, black garlic salt, habanero salt, poppy seeds, and black sesame seeds. I’m still team salt, but maybe habanero salt…yum! And that Colman’s Mustard really brings the punch! What team are you on?
Click here to shop a mixed pack of flavored artisan salts.
How to twist a pretzel:
First, roll your pretzel dough into a 2 ½-foot rope. Place the rope on your board in the shape of a U.
Next, cross one arm of the U over the other. Repeat so you have it twisted twice per the photos below.
Then, press the two ends into the opposite side of the U to form the pretzel
Next, place the pretzel on your prepared baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with your desired toppings: salt, seeds, etc.
Boil the pretzels 1-2 at a time for ~30 seconds, then bake at 450F until golden brown, 11-14 minutes. Make sure to allow the pretzels to cool for at least 5 minutes.
Finally, proudly serve with Colman’s Mustard. Aren’t you glad you now know how to twist your very own homemade soft beer pretzel?!
Feel like making more breads now that you’ve mastered this soft beer pretzel?
Try my challah recipe here!
Thank you, Colman’s, for sponsoring this post. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
