Comments on: German Style Soft Pretzels

By: cbrienne » Brezeln and Pretzels

cbrienne » Brezeln and Pretzels — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:03:33 +0000

[...] range of sites I concocted a new recipe. Here are a few sites used, That's my home, The Fresh Loaf, Cookography and the resultant [...]

By: Zippy

Zippy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:03:31 +0000

LYE is what makes a soft pretzel taste like a soft pretzel.

Making your own pretzels isn’t about compromising taste.

LYE at 3% concentration is not particularly dangerous.
People pour 100% lye crystals down their kitchen drain to unclog pipes and never think anything about it. No particular caution.

Now tell them to use a 3% concentration to dip bagels or pretzels and the go all freaky.

By: The Top 10 Foods to Help You Celebrate Oktoberfest at Home | Hugging the Coast

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:38:52 +0000

[...] German Style Soft Pretzel Recipe from Cookography [...]

By: Arundathi

Arundathi — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:10:44 +0000

Just made this today and liked the taste very much. Mine weren’t half as crusty as yours look, but maybe thats just my oven…

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 04:31:30 +0000

I tried this but they didn’t turn out anything like the ones on the screen. I am a professional chef and i think that this is a good recipe but it could use less flour.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:49:12 +0000

These look great…I think my kids will really like them. Thanks for leaving out the lye!
http://www.sporadiccook.blogspot.com

By: Bill Johnston

Bill Johnston — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:05:42 +0000

I grew up in Philly and miss the pretzels. There is no way to keep them fresh! They MUST be eaten the day they’re made. Now some people (like me) can be found dunking them in milk the next day, ’cause they’re hard as rocks!

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:05:48 +0000

I just used brown sugar. I couldn’t find any malt powder. My batch came out great.

By: Marisol

Marisol — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:30:53 +0000

Is malt powder a necessity in this recipe, or will brown sugar do just as well. I’m eager to try but I want to have everything straight. Thanks!

By: Foodaholic

Foodaholic — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:32:21 +0000

Fantastic! I absolutely love fresh baked pretzels, and don’t necessarily want to go to the mall to get them. This is great.

By: Darren & Tracy Ellis

Darren & Tracy Ellis — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:32:28 +0000

We used your recipe after several failed attempts with other recipes for our daughters heritage day festival. It was outstanding!!! and was more simplistic then the others. I love soft pretzels and my german grandma made them and it brought back good tastes. Now our daughter can pass on something from her heritage….. guten tag.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:16:09 +0000

I will try these as I love “Bretzel” and they have to be very fresh!
But re: frozen crap at the grocery store, DocChuck. In Germany ALDI sell packs of these at 12 pieces for €1.
They are frozen but taste great fresh from the oven. Better than Cologne central station, where you can see them being made and they cost €1 each.
I thought they would be more complicated but they look fairly straightforward. Thanks for the post, I’ll report back once I’ve tried them…

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:11:28 +0000

Using whole flour is a great. That should give it enough flavor to hold up to strong foods… or a good beer!

By: Dwindle

Dwindle — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 06:07:51 +0000

A paper bag is the only way to store such a thing, and is good for about a day.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:49:52 +0000

i just tried them tonight for the 1st time…i did 1.5 cup reg flour and 1.5 cup wheat and those are amazing! thank you for the recipe, i will be making them quite often
as for storing, i think the best would be a paper bag in the fridge but i dont know

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:30:06 +0000

From past experiences, I’ve found jsut storing them in a paper bag and then moistening and placing in the oven just before eating allows them to keep ok. But it’s not nearly as good as eating them fresh.
Any better methods for storing?

By: Best of Cookography: 2007

Best of Cookography: 2007 — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:39:55 +0000

[...] German Style, Soft Pretzels [...]

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:20:48 +0000

I tired this recipe out last night. It all came out pretty, considering it was my first try. I think I used too much flour in the beginning and they could’ve used a couple more minutes in the oven.

Overall, they were really good. I ate three paired up with brats and mustard and had another for breakfast.

I discovered that they don’t keep well in an airtight container. They became really spongy and the salt dissolved, but I’ll try again. Thanks!

By: DocChuck

DocChuck — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:08:33 +0000

Like you, I love all things salty (although my doctor wife gives me a bunch of grief over it).

I used to seek out soft pretzels, whether they were at the Renaissance Faire(s), or even sometimes the frozen crap at the grocery store.

It wasn’t until I visited Germany a few years ago that I REALLY knew what a GOOD soft pretzel should taste like.

Now my wife and I make them at home (very similar to your method) where they are light years ahead of any “commercial” products.

GREAT post, super photos. Thanks for sharing your method.