Hello, welcome! Baseball Season is in full swing and we, at the Djalali house are huge baseball fans. Thankfully, this season is somewhat back to normal with fans in the stands. I am not sure about you, but we felt the 2020 sports season lacked the excitement and spark without fans in the stands. Our favorite activity so far this summer has been enjoying our favorite teams’ games, snacking on ball park snacks, with ice cold beers out on the screen porch, cheering on our teams. So today, we are making Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels.
Ballpark foods have come a long, long way since even the 1990’s, when I first went to see the Giants play at Candlestick park. Now, not only do we have hot dogs, pretzels, and nachos, but every park has its regional favorites to choose from. In fact, one of the top-rated foodie ball parks in the US is the Giants’ Oracle Park (which will always be Pac Bell Park, to me). But you know what? I really just want a soft pretzel with cheese (or mustard), a good hot dog, and maybe some garlic fries. Keep it simple, you know?
Pretzel Dough
Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels are so much easier to make at home than you may think. I thought it seemed like too much work. But it’s really not. This recipe makes 12 pretzels, and even if there’s only two of you, they keep really well in an airtight container at room temperature. We made a couple into sandwiches the next day and they were great!
Yeast, sugar, water and oil. 
Let the yeast get foamy with the water sugar and oil. 
Add the bread flour and salt mixture.
The recipe I found on Cooks Country calls for dark brown sugar, but I have light brown, so we’re going with that. 110 degree water, rapid rise yeast, the brown sugar and oil go into the bowl of a stand mixer. Let the yeast get foamy with the water, sugar and oil, about 3-5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together Kosher salt and bread flour. Then add the flour/salt mix to the yeast mixture in the stand mixer bowl.
Mix with the dough hook until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. 
Then knead by hand for about one minute. 
Smooth dough ball.
Knead with the dough hook on low speed until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl, about 3-4 minutes. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about one minute and form the dough into a smooth dough ball. Lightly grease a large bowl, place the dough ball in and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest and rise at room temperature for about one hour, until it’s doubled in size.
Gently punch down the dough ball to deflate. 
On a lightly oiled surface, turn out the dough and cut into 12 even pieces.
Forming the Pretzels
Gently punch down the dough ball to deflate. On a lightly oiled surface, turn out the dough and cut into 12 even pieces. Since the dough is in a disc shape, I used my bench scraper to cut the dough in half, then quarters, then each quarter into three wedges. Cover the slices with plastic wrap. Get two rimmed sheet trays and lightly flour them.
Take one wedge of dough out from under the plastic wrap and roll it out into a long rope, about 20-22 inches long.
Use two hands and from the center, side to side, roll the dough out into a long rope. 
About 20-22 inches long.
Then, take each end and make a U shape with the bottom of the U facing you. Then, take each end and bring it down, crossing in the center.
Take each end to the top to make a U shape. 
Take each end and bring it down, crossing in the center.
Now, pick up each end and cross them again, making a full twist in the center. And then firmly, press the ends into the bottom of the pretzel shape.
Pick up the ends again… 
and cross them again, making a full twist in the center.
Lay each shaped pretzel on a floured rimmed sheet tray and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Repeat with all 12 pieces of dough – six pretzels per tray.
When all 12 are shaped and loosely covered with plastic wrap, let them proof again for about 20 minutes, until the pretzels are a little puffy. Position two oven racks: one in the middle-top position, and one in the middle lower position. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Boil and Bake
Dissolve 1/4 cup baking soda in 4 cups of water in a large Dutch oven or pot and bring to a boil. Set the first batch of pretzels on one side of the pot. Set a wire rack on the other side of the pot.
Use a flat spatula to scoop a pretzel and flip the pretzel, knot side down into the boiling water. One at a time, get three pretzels in the water. Let them boil for 15 seconds, then flip and boil another 15 seconds; 30 seconds total time in the water.
Flip the pretzel knot-side down into the boiling water. 
Pretzels on their last 15 seconds in the water.
With the flat spatula, scoop each pretzel out of the water and lay them, knot-side up on the wire rack. Repeat with four more batches of three pretzels.
Once they’ve all been through their baking soda hot tub, let them sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, take the original two rimmed sheet trays and wipe out the excess flour and spray with a light layer of cooking spray. Sprinkle pretzel salt on the greased sheet trays and transfer the pretzels to the greased, salted sheet trays. Then sprinkle the tops with more pretzel salt.
Grease and Salt rimmed sheet trays. 
Transfer pretzels to sheet trays and sprinkle with more pretzel salt.
Place the trays in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes; switching top and bottom and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Pretzels are done when they are a deep brown/mahogany color.
Ready for the oven! 
Positioned in the oven.
Transfer pretzels to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve with cheese sauce or a selection of mustards.
Deep brown color. 
Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels!
It will be hard to let these cool for 10 whole minutes. I made up a batch of Beer Queso to go along with these pretzels, but a selection of sweet and spicy mustards is another perfect way to go.
As soon as I wrapped this photo shoot, I gathered up half the batch and ran them over to my next-door neighbors. A paper bag of still-warm Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels will put a smile on anyone’s face, so consider making a double batch to share with friends! Thank you all for joining me today. Pin this recipe and give me a follow on Pinterest for all the Djalali Cooks recipes. Take care and be well, friends! xo Kelly
Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Soft and chewy, with that deep brown exterior, these Classic Ballpark Soft Pretzels are just the ticket for enjoying the game at home with friends.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Warm Water (110 degrees)
- 3 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 2 tbsp. Packed Dark (or Light) Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp. Instant or Rapid-Rise Yeast
- 3 ¾ cups Bread Flour
- 4 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup Baking Soda
- Cooking Spray
- Pretzel Salt
Instructions
Add 110 degree water, rapid rise yeast, brown sugar and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Let the yeast get foamy with the water, sugar and oil, about 3-5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 4 teaspoons Kosher salt and bread flour.
Then add the flour/salt mix to the yeast mixture in the stand mixer bowl.
With the dough hook, knead on low speed until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl, about 3-4 minutes.
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about one minute and form the dough into a smooth dough ball.
Lightly grease a large bowl, place the dough ball in and cover with plastic wrap.
Let the dough rest and rise at room temperature for about one hour, until it's doubled in size.
Gently punch down the dough ball to deflate.
On a lightly oiled surface, turn out the dough and cut into 12 even pieces; use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half, then quarters, then each quarter into three wedges.
Cover the slices with plastic wrap.
Lightly flour two rimmed sheet trays.
Take one wedge of dough out from under the plastic wrap and roll it out into a long rope, about 20-22 inches long.
Then, take each end and make a U shape with the bottom of the U facing you. Then, take each end and bring it down, crossing in the center.
Now, pick up each end and cross them again, making a full twist in the center. And then firmly press the ends into the bottom of the pretzel shape.
Lay each shaped pretzel on a floured rimmed sheet tray and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Repeat with all 12 pieces of dough – six pretzels per tray.
Let the pretzels proof again for about 20 minutes, until the pretzels are puffy.
Meanwhile, position two oven racks: one in the middle-top position, and one in the middle lower position. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Dissolve 1/4 cup baking soda in 4 cups of water in a large Dutch oven or pot and bring to a boil.
Use a flat spatula to scoop a pretzel and flip the pretzel, knot-side down into the boiling water. One at a time, get three pretzels in the water. Let them boil for 15 seconds, then flip and boil another 15 seconds.
With the flat spatula, scoop each pretzel out of the water and lay them, knot-side up on the wire rack. Repeat with four more batches of three pretzels.
Let the pretzels sit for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, take the original two rimmed sheet trays and wipe out the excess flour and spray with a light layer of cooking spray. Sprinkle pretzel salt on the greased sheet trays and transfer the pretzels, knot-side up, to the greased, salted sheet trays. Then sprinkle the tops with more pretzel salt.
Place the trays in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes; switching top and bottom and rotating sheets halfway through baking.
Pretzels are done when they are a deep brown/mahogany color.
Transfer pretzels to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
Serve warm.
