If you’re like me, you look forward to trips to the mall for the delicious giant soft pretzels from Auntie Anne’s. You can smell these delicious treats from outside of the food court and it lures you in with that homebaked bread and butter aroma. But rather than face the crowds these days, I love knowing that I can make my favorite pretzel snack at home with this Auntie Anne’s Copycat Recipe.
The ingredients list calls for several ingredients, but if you enjoy baking, you’ll have no problem gathering the items- you’ll likely already have them on hand. Most of the prep time is in mixing and stretching the dough out into ropes to twist the pretzels. You’ll also want to allow at least one hour for rising time- in between the mixing and the dough-stretching step. The fun part is in twisting the pretzels into their shape before placing them in the oven. It takes just a little practice, but by the end of this exercise, you’ll be able to pretzel-twist in no time.
Be careful not to let the pretzels bake for too long- just 7 to 11 minutes. Don’t forget to brush them with butter as soon as they come out of the oven. That gives them the perfect final touch. Sprinkle with coarse salt, and serve this Auntie Anne’s Copycat Recipe warm.
Auntie Anne's Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 6 tbsp packed light-brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus up to an additional 1/2 cup as needed
- 2 tbsp fine salt
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- 3 cups warm water
- coarse salt, to taste
- 6 tbsp butter, melted
Instructions
- First, warm the milk in a small saucepan until the temperature of the milk reaches 110 degrees, about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on medium-high heat.
- Pour the warm milk along with yeast into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk together until the yeast has dissolved. Then let it rest for about 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, 4 tbsp softened butter, 1 cup flour, and 2 tsp fine sea salt to the milk mixture and stir until blended using the whisk attachment.
- Switch the attachment to a dough hook. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups flour and kneaded mixture on medium-low speed until elastic.
- Mix in up to an additional 1/2 cup flour, as needed, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Punch the dough down several times to release any air pockets. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Roll each piece out into a long, thin rope about 32 to 36 inches long. Form the dough rope into a pretzel shape.
- In a shallow bowl, whisk together the baking soda and warm water, and then fully immerse the pretzel into the water mixture. Lift and allow excess water to drip off. Place pretzels on the prepared baking sheet, reshape as needed, and sprinkle to taste with coarse salt. Repeat this process with the remaining dough.
- Bake the pretzels in the preheated oven for 7 to 11 minutes until golden brown. Once you remove them from the oven, brush the top and bottom of the pretzels with melted butter. Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
- To re-heat, sprinkle the pretzels with a splash of water and microwave for 10-20 seconds.
If you love pretzels, and you enjoyed our Auntie Anne’s Copycat Recipe, check out our Little Caesar’s Pretzel Pizza review.
