pretzel bites recipe.

I am so excited to share today’s post with you, the Pretzel bites recipe that Hannah and I have been making together for the last few months.  She brought a pretzel home from school back in October that she had made in culinary; I took one bite and I was hooked.  Literally so, so delicious.  The first time we made them at home we rolled and shaped them into pretzels (which is actually trickier than you think, but not impossible!) but you only get 6 pretzels out of it.  The next time we thought we would try cutting the dough into pretzel bites, and oh my goodness, they were even better.  And we found that they made a great appetizer or after school snack for everyone to share.  It’s pretty much the only way we make them now.  This is a very easy, quick recipe, with a quick rise/prove time, and a good way to dip your toes into bread-making if it’s something you would like to learn.

I highly recommend getting a Kitchenaid mixer if you want to start making breads, (or really any kind of dough).  I’ve had mine for 15 years now and it’s still going strong.  It’s one of my most used kitchen tools and has so many uses.  Everything from making bread, to cookies, to even making your own pasta can be done with a Kitchenaid.

Okay, now on to the recipe!  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or even pop over and leave me one on instagram and I will answer them.

Pretzel Bites Recipe

• 1 cup milk
• 1(1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 3tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 2 1⁄4cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
• 10tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 1teaspoon fine salt
• 1⁄3cup baking soda
• 3cups warm water
• 2tablespoons coarse salt

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan or microwave until it’s about 110 degrees, make sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast; pour into a mixing bowl (I use my kitchenaid mixer for this recipe) and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes.
2.  Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons of the butter and soften; stir into mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough.  It takes 2-4 minutes in the mixer to get this consistency.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap, a towel or wax paper. Let rise in a warm spot until double in size, about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet or line baking sheet with parchment paper (I prefer to do this and I find the pretzels cook better this way). Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece in the palms of your hands into a 30 inch rope, rope should be about 3/4-1 inch in diameter.  Cut the ropes (I use a pizza cutter) into 1-1.5 inch pieces.
5. Dissolve the baking soda in the water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel bite in the soda solution, and arrange on the prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
6. Bake until golden, 10-12 minutes.
7. Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter. Brush the pretzel bites with butter and; place on a wire rack to let excess butter to drip off. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce (we like Dijon mustard, or melted cheese).