- 1 bottle (12 ounces) amber beer or nonalcoholic beer
- 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- TOPPING:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
- Coarse salt
- In a small saucepan, heat beer to 110°-115°; remove from heat. Stir in yeast until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, yeast mixture and 3 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
- Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 425°. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide and shape into eight balls. Roll each into a 24-in. rope. Curve ends of each rope to form a circle; twist ends once and lay over opposite side of circle, pinching ends to seal.
- In a Dutch oven, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels, two at a time, into boiling water. Cook 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain well on paper towels.
-
Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk and water; brush over pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to a wire rack to cool.
Freeze option: Freeze cooled pretzels in resealable plastic freezer bags. To use, thaw at room temperature or, if desired, microwave each pretzel on high 20-30 seconds or until heated through. Yield: 8 pretzels.
Reviews forSoft Beer Pretzels
My Review
Average Rating
"I made a batch of these last night. I bake my own bread but this was only my second time baking a soft pretzel recipe. As far as flavor they are the best tasting soft pretzels I've had since I was in Germany in the '70s. My attempt came out more doughy than I would like but that was likely my fault. I followed the recipe to the letter. Perhaps I beat or kneaded a little too much. They came out looking just like the picture and tasted wonderful! I used a 6.7% alcohol content beer and active dry yeast (new jar) which I keep stored in my freezer. I used coarse sea salt to coat them before baking. I'll definitely try this one again but maybe a little more yeast, a longer rising time and a more gentle kneading. They went really well with spicy brown mustard!"
"THEN POST IT PLEASE ALFOA
I am allergic to beer, but want to make a GREAT PERFECT soft pretzel so I can dip in warm creamy crab dip-yum so good""Turned out well! Will make again"
"Can't taste the beer. Waste of time. I have a better soft pretzel recipe that I got in elementary school."
"AMAZING! Have been wanting to make pretzels at home for ages. Found various recipes over the years but they always seemed to have one random ingredient that I didn't have on-hand. For this recipe I used a non-alcoholic Amber beer and followed the recipe exactly. Oh my goodness, they are so easy to make and very very yummy. Taste just like a soft, chewy, salty pretzel should taste. Delicious! so glad I have one more bottle of beer at home so I can make another batch tonight! :)"
"Very good , Very easy . Slight beer taste, not overwhelming."
"Delicious! My kids and I are devouring them. I have made pretzels with other recipes, and they are always good, but the beer in these adds to the yeastiness. Keep baking till they're nice and brown, not just a little."
"I made these for my fiance and his buddy. They loved them so much they were asking for seconds! They make a great snack- soft and chewy. They are good plain or served with many different types of dips/cheeses."
"I made these for snacking during a football game. I also made the jalapeno cheese dip suggested in the 2014 cookbook. Both were delicious. My team won, so we might have a new tradition! (Note that there is a discrepancy between the recipe in the book and the online version. The book said to roll into 14-inch ropes. I think the 24-inch ropes indicated in the online version probably work better.)"
"These are great. Made both the pretzels and the rolls. Have since made the rolls two more times, and stuck them in the freezer for use during the week. They freeze well and later on make a great sandwich for work lunches. Highly recommend!!."
