Homemade Garlic Pretzel Bites

Warm pretzel bites, fresh from the oven. Is there really anything better? I always thought that pretzels would be hard to make, and I’m not sure where I got that idea from because they’re actually pretty easy! These are so delicious fresh and warm, served with some honey mustard or my favorite beer cheese dip.

Makes about 32 pretzel bites

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package yeast
2 teaspoons garlic powder
4 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted (divided)
5 cups water
1/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk, mixed with 1 teaspoon water
Sea salt

Directions: 

Whisk together the flour and garlic powder in a mixing bowl, and set aside.

Combine the water, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture starts to foam. Add the flour mixture and 1 tablespoon butter to the yeast mixture, and mix on low using the hook attachment until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium, and knead until the dough is smooth and isn’t sticking at all to the sides of the bowl – about 5 minutes.

Grease a large bowl with the remaining butter (you may not need to use all of it), and move dough to the greased bowl. Cover with plastic, and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. I like to put mine into the oven, preheat the oven to 170, and then immediately turn the oven off once temperature has been reached.

Once the hour of rising is up, remove the dough from the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Bring the water and baking soda to a rolling boil in a large saucepan.

While the water heats, lightly grease a large work surface. Divide the dough into 8 approximately equal chunks, and divide each of those chunks into 4 smaller (approximately equal) bite-sized pieces. (So you’ll end up with about 32 pretzel bites.)

Drop about 5 pretzel bites at a time into the boiling water, and boil for 30 seconds. Remove the bites using a large slotted spoon or spatula, and place onto the prepared baking sheets. Brush the top of each bite with some of the egg yolk mixture and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Bake the bites until golden brown, about 13-15 minutes.