frances 
Last weekend, Veronica and I had a date night trying out Auntie Anne’s Copycat Pretzel recipe from Yammie’s Noshery (you may remember Veronica from the amazing Shrimp Pastry Pouch Hors D’ouvres recipe). This recipe was super easy to make and tasted like puffy, bread-like buttery bites of nomnomnom-ness. I will definitely be making them again.
It was a particularly challenging day photography wise. I had a lovely hand model to work with (Veronica), which gave me the chance to grab some work in progress shots in the work area (the kitchen). Unfortunately, the kitchen had all sorts of funky mismatched lighting which made it difficult to match the flash colouring to. In addition to that, I only had one semi-functional, non-ETTL compatible flash (YN-467 Speedlite) which I kept screwing and unscrewing on my light stands while switching between the studio setup and the kitchen. Basically, I was running back, forth, up and down like a mad woman the whole evening. In total honesty, I enjoyed it way too much. Many thanks to Veronica for being so patient with the photography process!
Right before baking, we had an oven malfunction and as a result, left the pretzel dough sitting for too long, allowing it to rise. I think this is what made the preztels look 3 times fatter and more like croissants. Regardless, they tasted amazing and very much like Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.
Auntie Anne’s CopyCat Pretzel Recipe
YIELD: 12 Preztels
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours
CREDITS: Yammie’s Noshery
INGREDIENTS
Pretzel Dough
- 2 cups milk
- 1.5 tablespoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 585 g All-Purpose Flour (4 1/2 cups)
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
Before Baking
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- 3 cups warm water
- Coarse salt
After Baking
- 8 tablespoons melted butter
- cinnamon (optional)
- sugar (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Warm the milk to 110º F by microwaving for about 1.5 minutes. You should be able to comfortably keep your finger in it, if the temperature is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Mix the yeast into the milk and let it sit for 3 minutes. Stir in butter and sugar. Add the flour and mix until incorporated, 1 cup at a time, followed by adding the salt. Knead the dough for 10 minutes with a stand mixer or by hand. The dough will visibly change from a lumpy to smooth consistency throughout if you’ve done it right.
- Generously grease a large bowl and plastic wrap. Place the dough in this bowl to rise for about 1 hour in a warm area. You can expect the dough to double in size, so make sure your bowl is big enough.
- Pre-heat the oven to 450ºF. Punch down the dough to deflate it and divide into 12 even pieces. Roll them into skinny strips on a lightly floured work surface and shape them into pretzels. In a bowl, mix the baking soda and warm water together. Dip each pretzel into this mixture and place on a baking pan lined with baking parchment. Sprinkle sparingly with salt and slide into the oven for 7-11 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Brush each pretzel with melted butter. If you like sweet pretzels, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar.
NOTES
- Measure the flour by weight rather than using cups which is more accurate. The reason is because flour can be densely or loosely packed depending on how the flour was scooped and this can make a HUGE difference.
- Don’t over salt!
