Ready for another fun project? Haha! I thought you might be!
Who doesn’t catch themselves daydreaming about their favorite Disney snacks? And one salty treat that you write to me about over and over are those amazing Soft Pretzels that you can get in the Germany Pavilion in Epcot!
Hand-Twisted Pretzel in Epcot’s Germany
These are the real deal — warm, salty, chewy, and perfect with a little mustard and a lot of beer!
Well, if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at making them at home, now’s your chance!
I have a feeling that I know what I’ll be doing this weekend…
Authentic German Soft Pretzels
Epcot’s Germany Pavilion
Yield: 10 pretzels
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
coarse salt
prepared mustard (optional)
Instructions:
1. Stir and dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir in salt, sugar, and 2 cups of flour.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
6. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
7. Cut dough into 3 oz pieces and roll into a ball.
8. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
9. Roll out dough into strings and then twist dough pieces in the middle.
10. Pick up the dough string with two hands each hand holding one end.
11. Attach the ends to the dough in a pretzel shape.
12. Place pretzel on a baking sheet and allow to proof until pretzels doubles in thickness.
13. Whisk the eggs with water.
14. Brush egg wash on top of pretzel after they have proofed.
15. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
16. Put on to baking sheets and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
17. Dip in prepared mustard if desired.
And that’s all there is to it! 🙂 Enjoy!
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Are you tempted to try your hand at making homemade soft pretzels? Leave a comment and let us know!
Note: This recipe originally appeared in the Orlando Sentinel
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This would be fun for my Children’s Ministry Group at my church. When it gets cool in the fall, I think this would be a great project for them. Thanks
The german pretzles have this buttery taste to them….I don’t see that listed, does disney use pixie dust (artificial flavor) to achieve this?
Essie — How cool! Definitely let us know how they turn out for you guys!
Kristina — Hmmm…could be. The pixie dust, that is 😉
To Kristina and AJ, the Amish markets where I live have wonderful buttery yet crisp brown soft pretzels that they make by hand if front of the customers. I’ve watched them make them and the last they do when they’re all done every other step is, they put them in a container of melted (clarified) butter and hang them to dry under a heat lamp. They taste wonderfully buttery! 🙂 I wonder if that’s what they do in EPCOT’s Germany?
Also, if I do make them with the kids, I’ll certainly share photos with you, AJ.
this looks good why havent I tried these that time!
Essie — Yes please!
I haven’t been in a long time but Le Cellier used to have pretzel breadsticks and those were my favorite “disney pretzel” I will have to try these!
That distinctive ‘Pretzel’ flavor comes from a water/baking soda glaze that the pretzels are brushed with or dipped into before baking.
It also gives it that rich chestnut color.
As the Pretzels are removed from the oven, a second glaze of melted butter is applied, it goes deep into the soft crust as they cool, to create that lovely chewy texture that you get in the parks.
@kev
I agree. This step is missing from the recipe.
It’s a boil in a Alkaline bath for one min. Traditionally lye is used, and still is in commercial applications—that’s not recommended for various reason; lack of ‘food grade lye’ available and the general safety problems making small batches of lye water.
Home cooks use baking soda…about 3/4 cup to 6 cups of water.
To make the baking soda even more alkaline…spread it on a baking sheet and heat for 1-2 hours at 250 or 300 degrees.
The formed pretzels are then put in the boiling Alkaline solution for 1 min. Brushed with eggwash (optional), salted and baked.
Kev and Sam — Thanks so much for your input! I’ve added the recipe credit back in — somehow it was omitted before we posted.
Hmm…I’ve been told by CMs that those pretzels in Germany are vegan, that they come from a Canadian vendor, and I verified with the vendor’s website that the pretzels are vegan. No egg, no butter (does have some artificial butter flavor). Last checked about 9 months ago. Where did this recipe come from? Thanks!
@Tofu.
“Buttery” pretzels can taste buttery without butter (imagine that!). It’s odd I know…but type in “Buttery Pretzels” in google and the first recipe…has no butter and is vegan.
It does use the above mentioned alkaline bath tho.
The alkaline bath does a few thing…and part of it is changing the taste to ‘buttery’. The other thing it does is seal the pretzel for the final baking so you have a soft inside. The final thing (which I know of) it adds is the wonderful brown color and ‘pretzel’ flavor.
Yes, the popcorn also has artificial butter flavor and is vegan just like the pretzels.The company that makes them for ersatz Germany is called Backerhaus-veit and their recipe is vegan. so is this just a generic pretzel recipe? (of note, SuperPretzels are also vegan and contain therefore no egg or dairy.)
http://www.backerhausveit.com/ is the website. they are so good! these are the ones at the beer and pretzel stand, not in biergarten, in case that matters. thank you!
Tofu — This recipe originally came from the Orlando Sentinel, so, no, this is not just a generic pretzel recipe. It is an authentic Epcot Germany pretzel recipe. Note that Disney does use different vendors from time to time, but this recipe is what many guests will consider to be authentic in regard to what they’ve eaten in Epcot’s Germany (biergarten and elsewhere).
Just made this for my guy. They turned out awesome. Thanks for the share.
Does anyone have the weights of the ingredients used? There can be so much variance when going strictly by measures.
I check everytime I get it, but the pretzels in Germany have been vegan otherwise I wouldn’t get them everytime for my son who’s allergic to EGGS AND DAIRY! This recipe might be an authentic German pretzel recipe, but I can assure you, it’s not the one that they use to make the ones at EPCOT Germany otherwise, my son wouldn’t have been able to eat them the last 20+ times he has. JUST FYI!