Soft Pretzels
These homemade soft pretzels are buttery, chewy and so soft! They could rival any pretzel stand out there!

Full confession…If I’m out shopping and there is a pretzel stand, I absolutely cannot resist. That buttery pretzel smell is just too tempting! Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of a good, buttery soft pretzel!
If you’re a beginner bread maker, you might find my pre recorded Soft Pretzel Class helpful! It’s one of many classes I offer in my Baking Academy, to help visual learners gain invaluable baking skills!
Let’s talk about the pretzel dough. The brown sugar gives it just the right amount of sweetness. The melted butter in the dough makes it not only taste amazing but easy to handle and shape without sticking to your fingers. You’ll only need a small amount of flour for your surface when rolling and shaping the pretzels.

Prepare the dough by mixing all of the ingredients. A stand mixer makes this job quick, but you could easily do this by hand as well. Let the dough rest while you prepare your baking soda water bath. Boiling the pretzels in the baking soda water for just 20-30 seconds is a step you don’t want to skip. This is how you get that special pretzel flavor AND it makes the pretzels more tender and chewy…just the way you want them!
I’ve provided a step by step video to demonstrate shaping the pretzel and the baking soda water bath. It’s so much easier than you think.
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups 480g warm water (about 105°F)
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 4 Tablespoons melted butter plus 4 more Tablespoons for brushing on after baked
- 5-7 cups 600g – 840g all purpose flour*
- *optional: pretzel salt
Baking soda bath:
- 5 cups 1200g water
- ⅓ cup baking soda
Instructions
- Make the dough: In stand mixer, mix the water, yeast, brown sugar, fine salt, 4 Tablespoons melted butter and 5 cups of the flour. Mix for about 30 seconds, letting all the ingredients get incorporated and the dough pulls together into one big mass. Lightly pat dough with your finger. If it feels wet and is sticking to your fingers, add a little more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. Dough should be soft but not sticky and should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3-5 minutes in mixer. Cover and let rest about 30 minutes while oven is preheating.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Cut dough into 12 equal pieces. If you have a food scale, weigh each one to make sure you come out with all equal sized pretzels.
- Shape the pretzels: Roll each piece into about a 20 inch long rope. Working from the center and rolling outwards makes this job quick and easy. Bring the ends up, twist, fold over and press to get a pretzel shape. You could also just cut the rope into 2 inch pieces for pretzel bites.
- Place the pretzels on a lined baking sheet. Silicone mats work best for this. Parchment can also be used, but be sure to spray it with nonstick spray.
- Bring the baking soda bath to a low boil. Drop 1-2 pretzels in and boil for about 20 seconds. Remove and place back on baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle with pretzel salt. Repeat with the remaining pretzels.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes.
- After removing from oven, use the reserved 4 Tablespoons of melted butter and brush onto pretzels. This is optional, but will give you that authentic Wetzels Pretzels flavor!
- Serve warm and pair with your favorite dipping sauce!
Notes
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can mix and knead by hand.
- Don’t skip on the baking soda water bath. It’s how you get that soft pretzel flavor and chewy texture.
- For cinnamon sugar pretzels, combine 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Brush the pretzel with butter after baking and coat with the cinnamon sugar topping. Pair this with my vanilla glaze recipe for dipping.
- For pretzel bites, roll divided dough out into 20 inch long rope and cut 2 inch pieces. Continue with steps 5-8.
- Try other variations like: sprinkling with freshly grated parmesan cheese before baking, sprinkle with garlic powder & Kraft parmesan cheese before baking, layer on some pepperoni before baking. These are all so yummy with a marinara or Alfredo dipping sauce.
Links that may help you with this recipe…
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