Sourdough Pretzels

There is nothing quite like warm, soft pretzels. These are made even better because they are sourdough pretzels! The flavor is delicious and as usual in my recipes, I like to add some whole wheat flour to make them a little more healthy.

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure can be found here.

This recipe uses fresh sourdough starter and takes about 5 hours start to finish. Even with a 4.5 hour rest and rise time, the flavor is fresh, with no lingering sour taste. If you are wanting a sour taste, you can leave the dough to rest in the refrigerator overnight (about 12 hours), instead of 4 hours on the counter.

One of the wonderful things about anything sourdough is that it helps you to digest the wheat so much easier. The process of using natural sourdough leaven helps increase our bodies ability to absorb all the nutrients in the grains.

Since pretzel recipes often contain commercial yeast, I decided to develop a sourdough pretzel recipe. It uses grams as a measurement. Grams are much more accurate, so if you have a scale use it! A kitchen scale is inexpensive and personally I think it’s worth it for baking! I bought mine here. I do have cups/ teaspoons amounts listed if you don’t have a scale.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for sourdough pretzels!

Sourdough Pretzels

Serves: 6-8 Prep Time: 4.5 hours Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes 12-15 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.8/5

( 12 voted )

Pin

Print

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 125 grams (about 1/2 cup) sourdough starter
• 400 grams (3 cups) all purpose flour
• 200 grams (1 1/2 cups) hard white wheat flour
• 350 grams (1 1/2 cups)  water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 50 grams (about 3 Tablespoons) honey

For the water/baking soda mixture:

• 6 cups water
• 1/3 cup baking soda

Instructions

1. Mix together all dough ingredients in a stand mixer with the hook attachment just until everything is incorporated together.
2. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes
3. Knead with the stand mixer for 5 minutes.
4. Let the dough rest for 4 hours (more or less depending on air temperature of your home) Mine is usually double in size by this time.
5. Prepare a large baking tray lined with parchment paper and sprinkle it lightly with flour.
6. Flour the counter or a work surface very lightly. Pick off a piece of dough, maybe a half cup worth (I'm not scientific about it and wing it on size)
7. Using your hands roll out the dough into about 3/4 inch thickness ropes. Shape into a pretzel, or cut before shaping to make pretzel bites.
8. Place pretzels on prepared tray as you make them.
9. Turn oven on to 400ºF.
10. In a medium saucepan mix together baking soda and water and bring to a boil.
11. Boil each pretzel in the baking soda/water mixture for 20-30 seconds then place back on the tray.
12. Sprinkle each pretzel liberally with coarse salt.
13. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
14. Brush with melted butter, lard, or oil. Serve warm!