Heart Shaped Soft Pretzels

Heart-Shaped Soft Pretzels

Welcome to February and all things heart-shaped! My family loves my soft pretzel recipes so I thought I’d try to make them into hearts just for my sweeties. Soft pretzel recipes are one of my favorites to make. It’s a great beginner baking project and doesn’t take very long since there’s no rise time for the dough. If you love these, try making this delicious beer cheese recipe to serve with it too!

Heart-Shaped Soft Pretzels

Makes 8 pretzels

Dough Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg + 2 tbsp water for the egg wash
• coarse salt for sprinkling

Water Bath:

• 8 cups water
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, stir together the warm milk and dry yeast. Let sit for up to 10 minutes or until active.
2. whisk in the brown sugar, salt, and melted butter. Add the flour and stir together with your dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon until you get a shaggy dough. Knead the dough on low for an additional 8 minutes. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 450F and prepare the water bath. To prepare the water bath, bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Decrease the heat to medium, and add the baking soda and brown sugar. Stir to dissolve and continue to simmer.
4. Prepare two aluminum baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out your dough. Flour the dough just enough so that you can work with it and divide it equally into 8 pieces with a pastry knife.
5. To shape, roll out a piece of dough about 18 inches long, curl it into a heart shape, and pinch together where the points of the heart connect.
6. Carefully submerge each heart-shaped pretzel, one at a time, into the water bath for 45 seconds. Let the dough drip dry on a slotted spatula or spoon before placing it on the parchment paper baking sheet. You should be able to fit four pretzels on one sheet. Reshape the heart if needed, making sure the points are secure. Continue for all 8 pretzels.
7. Whisk together the egg wash and brush over the boiled pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt as desired.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned.