Sweet Pretzels with Honey Syrup
Incredibly soft sweet pretzels with butter and soaked in honey syrup. These pretzels are made with butter laminated dough and are the flakiest, softest pretzels ever.
Ingredients
Honey syrup
- 100 g honey (⅓ cup)
- 200 g sugar (1 cup)
- 500 g water (2 ⅛ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Pretzel dough
- 50 g butter, melted (¼ cup)
- 120 g milk (½ cup)
- 50 g sour cream or double/heavy cream (¼ cup)
- 7 g instant dry yeast (2 ½ tsp)
- 125 g sugar (⅔ cup)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg, large
- 400 g all purpose flour (3 ¼ cups)
- 3 g salt (⅓ tsp)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Lamination
- 150 g butter, softened (⅔ cup)
Egg wash
- 1 egg, large
- 2 tsp milk
Instructions
Honey syrup
- In a saucepan, mix all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 7-8 minutes until the liquid becomes a little thicker.100 g honey, 200 g sugar, 500 g water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Pretzels
- In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Mix to combine.400 g all purpose flour, 3 g salt
- Warm up the milk in the microwave to roughly 30 degrees. Add the sugar and yeast and mix to dissolve. Let it rest for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.120 g milk, 125 g sugar, 7 g instant dry yeast
- Add the yeasty mixture over the flour. Also add the melted butter, sour cream and lemon zest. Combine all the ingredients until a dough forms.50 g sour cream or double/heavy cream, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Put some oil on your work surface and knead the dough for 4-5 minutes until it becomes smooth and supple. It should spring back when poked.
- Place the dough to prove in a greased bowl and cover with cling film. Let prove in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has doubled in volume, it's ready to fold in the butter. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it into a rectangle of 1 cm (½ inch) thickness. Try to keep the edges square for ease of folding.
- Take the softened butter and spread it on one half of the dough alongside the short edge.150 g butter, softened
- Fold the dough in half. Then along the long edge fold both edges so they meet in the middle of the dough. Pinch the edges with your fingers to seal in the butter.
- Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough to the same size as the original rectangle - roughly 60cm (24 inches) long.
- Along the long edge, cut the sheet of dough into 8 equal strips. Cut each strip in half along the long edge, leaving 3 cm (1 inch) uncut on one side.
- Take each strip and twist it around itself, then braid the two twisted strands.
- Form the pretzel shape by bringing one end to the middle to form a circle. Bring the other end to the middle of circle. Press to make dough stick.
- Place all the pretzels in a lined baking tray and cover with cling film. Let prove for 20 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (360°F) fan-assisted.
- Once proved, brush with a mixture of egg and milk. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden-brown in colour.
- Once the pretzels have baked, remove them from the oven and pour the syrup over them in the tray. It's important to do this whilst still very hot, so they can soak up the sugar syrup.
- Let the pretzels sit in the syrup for 20-30 minutes, then remove them and place on a serving tray.
- Optional: you can sprinkle some coconut or almond flakes over the pretzels for some added crunch.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- All ingredients for the dough need to be at room temperature, unless otherwise specified.
- Honey - if allergic, replace with sugar or maple syrup.
- Sweetness - If you want the pretzels to be less sweet, only leave them in the syrup for 4-5 minutes.
- Texture - soaking the pretzels in syrup for 20 minutes will make them soft and buttery. If you prefer a crunchy pretzel, skip the sugar syrup altogether and simply brush with some honey whilst still hot.
Nutrition
Calories: 450kcal
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