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sourdough soft pretzels arranged on a parchment paper after baking
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Easy Soft Sourdough Pretzels with stiff starter

Servings: 12 pretzels
Author: Jenny Prior

Ingredients

Sweet levain stiff starter:

  • 30 g active starter
  • 15 g sugar
  • 50 g water
  • 100 g all-purpose flour

Dough:

  • 180 g of the now active sweet levain prepared 6-10 hours previous
  • 380 g flour 40g Whole Wheat flour and 340g Bread flour
  • 200 g warm water
  • 7 g salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 T. unsalted butter melted

Baking Soda Bath

  • Water
  • 1/4 c. baking soda

Honey Butter Wash:

  • 2 T. unsalted butter melted
  • 1-2 T. honey
  • 1 T. water
  • coarse salt or optional toppings

Instructions

  • With your sourdough starter, you can use active sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard. You will be using a small portion to make this special levain and keep the rest of your established starter separate. Add two tablespoons to small bowl then add sugar, all-purpose flour, and water to create the Sweet Levain Stiff Starter. This sweet levain stiff starter will become active in 6 to 12 hours. It should be doubled in volume and thick with an aerated look.
  • Now that your sweet levain stiff starter is active, it's time to make dough! First, melt the butter and set it aside to cool down.
  • Mix the flour with the water and 180g of the prepared sweet levain stiff starter. Once a rough dough has been created, add the salt and egg yolk and mix in.
  • Knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes before adding the melted butter. Use a dough scraper to make sure no flour sticks to the sides of the mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth, soft, and is no longer sticking to your hands or the sides of your bowl.
  • Place your bread dough into an airtight container or use a large clean bowl covered with plastic wrap. Keep your dough at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours for the bulk fermentation or first rise until it doubles.
  • Once your dough has doubled, prepare a pan with a sheet of parchment paper on it.
  • Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Divide your dough into 12 equal pieces, you can use a scale to make your pieces of dough equal in weight.
  • Roll dough under your hands into about 18-inch long rope pieces. Pull ends of the rope outward as you roll them on your work surface. Take the two ends of the dough rope and twist about 2 to 3 inches from the ends. Pull the twisted ends over the middle of the loop. Press to seal the ends to the loop center. Pull the loops and sides to make the traditional pretzel shape. Transfer shaped pretzels to parchment lined pan to proof. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
  • Cover the shaped sourdough soft pretzels with plastic wrap. Let the covered dough sit at room temperature for the proof or second rise for 30 to 90 minutes.
  • Towards the end of the proof time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and bring a large pot of water to boil.
  • While the oven is preheating and water is coming to a boil, prepare the Honey Butter Wash. If you'd prefer to use a more traditional egg wash, you can. The Honey Butter adds an additional sweetness to the soft pretzels.
  • Once the oven is preheated and the pot of water is boiling, add 1/4 c. baking soda to the boiling water.
  • Boil pretzels in the baking soda solution in batches for 20-30 seconds on each side. Remove promptly with a large slotted spoon and place back on parchment lined baking sheet.
  • Use a pastry brush to brush boiled pretzels with honey butter wash then sprinkle with coarse salt or other topping. Optional step: Use a lame or sharp blade to score the bottom of the pretzel by making a 1-2 inch cut horizontally. This creates a nice look as the pretzels bake and rise in the oven.
  • Place the pan of pretzels in the preheated oven. Bake 15-18 minutes until dark brown in color.
  • Let these cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes before enjoying with your favorite dips!

Notes

If you are kneading by hand, it will take 6 to 12 minutes to develop the correct texture.
If you're using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment and low to medium-low speed (I recommend the lowest 2-3 speeds) to knead your dough. It will take 5 to 8 minutes to get combined and soft until it pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

5 tips for delicious homemade pretzels

  1. Dough that has perfectly fermented, should not be sticky after the bulk ferment. Only a very light amount of dusting flour should be needed during shaping.
  2. Let the pretzels sit uncovered for 10 to 20 minutes before the baking soda bath. This helps develop a skin on the pretzels so they are less tacky to the touch and easier to pick up and put in the bath.
  3. When you put your pretzels into the baking soda bath, put them in topside down first so once they are rotated during the poaching, they'll be right side up when you take them out with the slotted spoon.
  4. Try different toppings instead of traditional salt like everything but the bagel seasoning, parmesan cheese, poppy seeds, cinnamon  sugar, and more!
  5. Rather than making traditional pretzels, you could make this recipe into rolls or pretzel bites. Be sure to adjust the bake timing. Rolls or buns will need more bake time, smaller pretzel bites will need less bake time.