Easy Soft Sourdough Pretzels (Better Than Auntie Anne’s)
These easy soft sourdough pretzels are way better than Auntie Anne’s! They’ve got that pillowy texture without any additives. As well as the perfect amount of salt and butter. We love them dipped in homemade cheddar cheese sauce, especially on Fridays during Lent. I know you’ll love them just as much as we do!
This post may contain affiliate links of items I know and love. Read our disclosure policy for more information.
If you want to make this recipe but don’t have a sourdough starter, no worries! Grab my free guide so you can make your own starter at home.
If you’re new to sourdough baking and feel hesitant, or you have questions, I’ve got something for you! I broke down the basics of what you need to know about sourdough baking in my free sourdough baking guide for beginners. I highly recommend grabbing a copy!
Why You’ll Love These Soft Sourdough Pretzels
These pretzels are beloved in our home for so many reasons, but here are a few:
- Easy to Make Ahead: You can easily mix the dough, bulk ferment, shape, and stick the pretzels in the fridge until you’re ready to boil and bake them!
- Simple Steps: I created this recipe to have simple steps so even beginner bakers can follow along without getting confused.
- Simple Ingredients: Each ingredient is simple and wholesome. Instead of sugar, you’ll find pure maple syrup and instead of yeast you’ll find sourdough starter.
- Freezer-Friendly: After you bake these pretzels, they freeze perfectly! You can whip up a batch when you have time and freeze them for later.
- Fun to Make: Making these pretzels is so much fun. Between shaping them to dropping them in a water bath, you’ll find the process fun!
Now let’s get ready to make some soft sourdough pretzels!
Why Make Pretzels with Sourdough
When you make pretzels with sourdough, you get gut benefits from the starter’s cultures. They ferment each ingredient in the dough during the bulk ferment.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Pretzels
- fed sourdough starter (feed 4-12 hours prior to using)
- water
- pure maple syrup
- salt
- all purpose flour
Water Bath
- pure maple syrup
- baking soda
Topping
- 2 Tbsp Melted butter
- Sea Salt or Kosher
Sample Baking Schedule
- Prepare your starter: 4pm Friday
- Make the dough: 8pm Friday
- Bulk Ferment: 8pm Friday – 8am Saturday
- Shape the Pretzels: 8am Saturday
- Boil Pretzels: 8:10 am Saturday
- Bake Pretzels: 9:20 am Saturday
- Enjoy!: 9:22 am Saturday
Kitchen Tools for this Recipe
How to Make Soft Sourdough Pretzels
Prepare Your Starter
BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. I recommend feeding your entire starter jar a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when making this recipe.
(Example: Feed entire starter 1 cup flour + 1/2 cup water and let it sit on the counter at room temperature until it’s bubbly and has grow in the jar. Your starter needs to be active, bubbly, and a thicker consistency to use in this recipe.)
Make the Dough & Ferment
Mix fed starter, water, maple syrup, and salt in a large mixing bowl until combined with a bread whisk or spoon.
Add flour one cup at a time, stirring until combined.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes (add a few tablespoons of flour if needed)
Place back into a clean mixing bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or lid for 10-12 hours (until doubled) to bulk ferment. (Please see notes for helpful tips!)
Shape the Pretzels & Proof
After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 6 even sections.
Roll out each section with your hands to form a 6 inch long rope (dough will be a little sticky, dust with flour when needed).
Doing one rope at a time, place it in a U-shape. Then take the ends and twist them together leaving half of the U at the bottom.
Fold the twisted part down onto the bottom of the U and press to seal. Use your fingers on both sides of the top twisted rope to stretch the M to make the iconic pretzel shape.
Repeat with rest of the ropes.
Place pretzels on a parchment lined sheet pan(s) and cover with a kitchen towel.
Let rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
Boil & Bake Pretzels
Fill a medium sized pot with water about 2/3 the way full. Add in maple syrup and baking soda. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
While waiting preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once water is boiling turn water bath down to medium-high
Drop 1 pretzel into the boiling water at a time for 25-30 seconds. Then flip and let boil another 25-30 seconds. (Don’t let them to stay in much longer)
Scoop pretzel out of water bath with a slotted spoon or spider strainer and place back on the prepared sheet pan 1/2 inch away from the other pretzels.
Repeat until all pretzels have been boiled.
Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Then remove from oven, immediately brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt. Enjoy!
Ways to Serve
These pretzels can be served with so many different dipping sauces! Whether you want them sweet or savory, here’s a few made from scratch ideas:
- regular cheese dipping sauce
- jalapeno cheddar cheese dipping sauce
- plain cream cheese (my husband loves this mixed with regular cheese sauce)
- chocolate sauce
How to Store
Store pretzels in an air-tight container (I prefer glass) for up to 3-5 days at room temperature. You can also store them in the fridge.
How to Freeze
Store cooled-down soft sourdough pretzels in a freezer-safe bag or glass container for 3-6 months in the freezer. Be sure to wrap them individually in parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Best Way to Reheat Pretzels
When you’re ready to enjoy your leftover soft pretzels, pop them on a sheet pan and warm in the oven at 375 for 3-5 minutes or until warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. But when you bulk ferment and do the proofing, you won’t get as much of a rise. This is okay. It may affect the texture a little but they’ll still be good!
Yes! This is a long, cold ferment and a great idea to give you more time. You can place them shaped and unbaked in the fridge up to 24 hours.
More Easy Sourdough Snack Recipes
- Sourdough Pretzel Bites
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Sourdough Asiago Bagel Recipe (better than Panera)
- Sourdough Jalapeno Popper Scones
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones
If you made this recipe, give it a 5-star rating below and share a photo of your muffins on social media stories! Be sure to tag @plumbranchhome
Want 25 simple sourdough recipes?
Grab a copy of my sourdough eBook that’ll help you start baking like a pro!
Recipe
Soft Sourdough Pretzels (Better Than Auntie Anne’s)
Ingredients
Pretzels
- 1/2 cup FED sourdough starter
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tsp salt (I like sea salt)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Water Bath
- 2 tsp pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
Topping
- 2 Tbsp melted butter (salted)
- Course Sea Salt or Kosher
Instructions
Prepare Your Starter
- BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. I recommend feeding your entire starter jar a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when making this recipe. (Example: Feed entire starter 1 cup flour + 1/2 cup water and let it sit on the counter at room temperature until it's bubbly and has grow in the jar. Your starter needs to be active, bubbly, and a thicker consistency to use in this recipe.)
Make the Dough & Ferment
- Mix fed starter, water, maple syrup, and salt in a large mixing bowl until combined with a bread whisk or spoon.
- Add flour one cup at a time, stirring until combined.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes (add a few tablespoons of flour if needed)
- Place back into a clean mixing bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or lid for 10-12 hours (until doubled) to bulk ferment. (Please see notes for helpful tips!)
- OPTIONAL: Once the dough has doubled in size you can place it in the fridge up to 24 hours. For easier shaping I recommend doing this for a few hours or overnight.
Shape the Pretzels & Proof
- After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 8 even sections.
- Roll out each section with your hands to form a 6 inch long rope (dough will be a little sticky, dust with flour when needed).
- Doing one rope at a time, place it in a U-shape. Then take the ends and twist them together leaving half of the U at the bottom.
- Fold the twisted part down onto the bottom of the U and press to seal. Use your fingers on both sides of the top twisted rope to stretch the M to make the iconic pretzel shape.
- Repeat with rest of the ropes.
- Place pretzels on a parchment lined sheet pan(s) and cover with a kitchen towel.
- Let rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
Boil & Bake Pretzels
- Fill a medium sized pot with water about 2/3 the way full. Add in maple syrup and baking soda. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
- While waiting preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once water is boiling turn water bath down to medium-high
- Drop 1 pretzel into the boiling water at a time for 25-30 seconds. Then flip and let boil another 25-30 seconds. (Don’t let them to stay in much longer)
- Scoop pretzel out of water bath with a slotted spoon or spider strainer and place back on the prepared sheet pan 1/2 inch away from the other pretzels.
- Repeat until all pretzels have been boiled.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Then remove from oven, immediately brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt. Enjoy!
Notes
- If your dough doesn’t look like it’s doing anything halfway through the rises, you need to place it in a slightly warmer area.
- This can be in a turned-off oven with the light on and oven door open, or you can slightly warm the oven to about 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit, then turn it off and place your dough inside with the door shut.
- Never leave the oven on, even on the keep warm setting, with fermenting dough inside. Your dough, for both rises, needs to double.
- If your dough doesn’t double even in the warmer area, there is a problem with your starter. It is too weak to ferment the dough even in a warm environment.
- To fix this, you will want to leave your starter out on the counter for 2 days and feed it every 12 hours at a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water.
- For example, 1 cup unbleached flour + 1/2 cup filtered (or bottled) water.
- Make sure you’re using unbleached flour and filtered or bottled water to do this. If you don’t, it will affect your starter strength. Reverse osmosis water (or any water that uses salt in the filter) can make the starter weak.
- This will strengthen the cultures in your starter to give you fluffy baked bread and treats. After the 2 days, you can go back to feeding it like usual (once a week if stored in the fridge or once a day if stored on the counter). Be sure to use the 2:1 ratio feeding from here on out.