Soft Pretzels

I have a list of foods that, from the beginning of my celiac diagnosis, I knew would need to be tackled and perfected. It wasn’t a very long list, but it had some heavy hitters on it.  Things likebread, donuts, onion rings, cinnamon rolls, and…soft pretzels.  So when my daughter, who also has celiac, blinked her bright blue eyes at me and asked “Mom, what’s a soft pretzel?” I knew it was time to begin the process of finding a yummy and reliable recipe!

The recipe calls for rice bran, which I have found to be wildly effective in creating a soft-textured bread.  I prefer it over pectin or psyllium husk powder, both of which have failed to impress me.  If you don’t have rice bran you can omit it, but I strongly believe in its effectiveness in breads!

A little trick I learned with my pizza dough recipe from King Arthur was to add ½ cup of gluten free flour while proofing the yeast with warm water.  This step is so helpful when making gluten free breads as it allows the yeast to do their thing without the weight of all of the flour blend.

The baking soda bath before baking is imperative to the pretty dark brown color unique to pretzels.  It also gives it a slight crispiness underneath.  In other words, don’t skip this step!  It makes a pretzel a pretzel.

One final note, once you shape your risen dough do not allow it to sit for very long as the dough will continue to rise.  You risk losing the pretty pretzel shape you worked so hard to make!  Plus, the dough will continue to rise during baking.  

Just look at the active yeast doing their thing!  This is the beginning of a good thing.

Pretzel dough before the rise…

And pretzel dough after the 1 hour rise.

Print Recipe

Gluten Free Soft Pretzels

Prep Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Course: Bread

Servings: 6

Author: Just As Good Gluten Free

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water about 110 degrees F
• 2 ¼ teaspoon active yeast
• 338 g gluten free flour blend about 2 ¼ cups
• 2 teaspoon guar or xanthan gum omit if in blend
• ½ Tbs rice bran
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 Tbs white granulated sugar
• 4 Tbs butter melted
• 3-4 Tbs corn starch for dusting
• Pre-bake dip:
• 3 cups warm water
• ⅓ cup baking soda
• After bake dip:
• ¼ cup kosher or sea salt
• 2 Tbs butter melted

Instructions

• In a mixing bowl (preferably in a stand mixer), combine gluten free flour, guar gum, rice bran, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and white sugar. Stir to combine.
• In a separate container that holds at least 2 cups, place the warm water, yeast, and ½ cup of the dry flour mixture together. Stir until most clumps are gone. Allow to sit for ½ hour. In about ½ an hour, your yeast and dough should rise to about 2 cups worth.
• Pour the water and yeast into the remaining flour mixture. Add 4 Tbs melted butter. Stir on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl to form a mound of dough. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap, place in a warm location and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour. It should double in size, or at least get pretty close!
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet (mine is 17 ¼ x 12 ¼) with parchment paper or silicon baking mat. In a separate bowl, place 3 cups of warm water mixed with ⅓ cup of baking soda. This will be a pre-bake bath for your shaped dough.
• Remove your dough from the bowl and place on a surface lightly dusted with corn starch. Use a spatula or fingers dampened with water if the dough is too sticky to handle. If you do not have corn starch, try using another starch, like arrowroot. Using gluten free flour will add too much into your dough resulting in a denser, heavier pretzel, so you will need something light like corn starch to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.
• Separate the dough into 6 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, gently rub the dough between your fingers or on the corn starch surface to help create a 16 inch long rope. The dough will tear easily (darn gluten!), so work gently! Take the rope and make a U-shape, with the U at the top and the bottom ends pointing toward you. Twist the two ends together once, and then make a second twist while flipping the ends back up over the top of the U, gently stretching the two openings if needed. Gently press the ends of the rope into the top of the U. You should have a pretzel shape!
• Carefully transfer the pretzel dough into the warm baking soda and water mixture for a quick dip. Carefully transfer the pretzel dough to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough until you have 6 pretzels.
• Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. Melt 2 Tbs butter and dip each pretzel into the butter and then lightly cover with kosher or sea salt.

Recipe adapted from Food Network, Alton Brown

So this is what I call failing forward.  This is to let you know I’m a human being that rarely gets things right on the first try, and probably not even the second.  A little insight into my mishaps, screw-ups, failures and lessons learned.

Failing Forward Take 1:

My boy asked “where’s the hole???”  Good question son, good question.