Joy Wilson

Ingredient: Pretzel

About Joy

Joy Wilson is well known for her daily dabbles in butter and sugar as her blogging alter ego, Joy the Baker. A California girl who now splits her time between New Orleans and Houston, TX, Joy is a 100% taste buds taught baker and home cook. Since 2008, Joy has shared her indulgent and comforting yet approachable recipes through her popular blog joythebaker.com, inspiring home cooks of all ages to try new things. Joy is also a three-time cookbook author, and editor-in-chief of the bi-annual Joy the Baker Magazine.

Through it all, Joy proves baking is not about all the latest gadgets and high-tech gizmos; it’s about stepping into the kitchen with a monster sweet tooth and coaxing something beautiful out of the oven. Joy has won numerous awards for her online work including Savuer’s Best Baking Blog and being named one of the Top 50 Food Blogs by The London Times. Joy has been featured on Food52, NYMag, TheKitchn, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine, and Country Living to name a few. Joy has spoken at Cherry Bombe Jubilee and been seen on The TODAY Show. She has her own baking and breakfast mixes product line with Williams Sonoma, and a capsule collection of culinary themed necklaces and earrings with Delicacies Jewelry. You can keep up with Joy on Instagram @joythebaker and her cake-based passion project @drakeoncake. On any given day she can be found with a bag of cookies and a pound of butter in her purse.

Soft Pretzels in a Hurry

Serves Makes 8-10 large pretzels

For the pretzels:
- 10 cups water + 1/2 cup baking soda for boiling the pretzels
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 1 pack (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3 3/4 - 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
For the sweet topping:
- 4 tablespoons melted butter (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar sifted together with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the savory topping:
- 1 large egg, beaten with a small splash of water for egg wash
- coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Set 10 cups of water in a large stock pot over medium-high heat to boil on the stovetop. Have 1/2 cup of baking soda standing by. Make sure the pot has tall sides as the water will temporarily double in size when you add the baking soda. Allow the water to slowly come to a boil while you make the dough.
3. Add the warm water to a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water, followed by a little sprinkle of sugar. Measure 3 cups of flour atop the yeast mixture. Add the salt, remaining sugar, and softened butter. Use a firm spatula or wooden spoon to stir the dough together into a moist and shaggy ball.
4. Add 3/4 cup more flour and measure the remaining 3/4 cup flour into a small bowl. Stir the dough with the additional flour to create a soft and sticky dough keeping the small bowl of flour set aside
5. Generously flour a clean countertop with the measured flour from the small bowl. Bring the dough out of the bowl and begin to knead it on the counter. The dough will be soft and sticky. Continue to slowly add flour from the small bowl and you knead the dough for 5 to 7 minutes. Try not to allow your hands to get too sticky with dough. Rub dough from your hands, wash them clean, and continue kneading if this happens.
6. You may not need to add all of the flour from the small bowl. You want a dough ball that holds its shape, is mostly (though not perfectly) smooth, bounces back to the touch, and is still a bit sticky. The stickiness will help when we roll the dough into ropes.
7. Divide the dough into 8 or 10 pieces. You can eyeball this of weigh each dough ball to the same weight.
8. Begin to roll each portion of dough into a rope. My ropes ranged from 20 to 25 inches. You want a very lightly floured counter to roll your ropes. The dough sticking to the counter a bit helps roll the ropes – it’s that little bit of tension. Once you have your long rope, take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape.
9. Place each shaped pretzel on a lightly floured place on your counter and continue until all pretzels are shaped.
10. Your water should be boiling by now. If it’s not, crank the heat and get a nice rolling boil. Carefully add the baking soda. The water will rise, fizz, and fuss but then calm down.
11. Keep the water at a boil and with floured hands, gently lower two shaped pretzels into the water. Allow to simmer for 20 seconds. They’ll float to the top. Use a big slotted kitchen utensil to remove the pretzels from the boiling water and onto the prepared baking sheets. Give an inch or so between pretzels. Repeat until all of the pretzels are boiled.
  To make sweet pretzels, brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.
  
  To make savory pretzels, brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
12. Bake pretzels, one pan at a time, for 12-13 minutes. The pretzels will rise and crack as they bake up to golden brown. Rotate the pan once during baking. Repeat with the second pan.
Serve pretzels with melted butter, mustard, or beer cheese. Enjoy warm!

For the pretzels:

10 cups water + 1/2 cup baking soda for boiling the pretzels
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 pack (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 3/4 - 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

For the sweet topping:

4 tablespoons melted butter (salted or unsalted is fine)
1/2 cup granulated sugar sifted together with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the savory topping:

1 large egg, beaten with a small splash of water for egg wash
coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Set 10 cups of water in a large stock pot over medium-high heat to boil on the stovetop. Have 1/2 cup of baking soda standing by. Make sure the pot has tall sides as the water will temporarily double in size when you add the baking soda. Allow the water to slowly come to a boil while you make the dough.
Add the warm water to a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water, followed by a little sprinkle of sugar. Measure 3 cups of flour atop the yeast mixture. Add the salt, remaining sugar, and softened butter. Use a firm spatula or wooden spoon to stir the dough together into a moist and shaggy ball.
Add 3/4 cup more flour and measure the remaining 3/4 cup flour into a small bowl. Stir the dough with the additional flour to create a soft and sticky dough keeping the small bowl of flour set aside
Generously flour a clean countertop with the measured flour from the small bowl. Bring the dough out of the bowl and begin to knead it on the counter. The dough will be soft and sticky. Continue to slowly add flour from the small bowl and you knead the dough for 5 to 7 minutes. Try not to allow your hands to get too sticky with dough. Rub dough from your hands, wash them clean, and continue kneading if this happens.
You may not need to add all of the flour from the small bowl. You want a dough ball that holds its shape, is mostly (though not perfectly) smooth, bounces back to the touch, and is still a bit sticky. The stickiness will help when we roll the dough into ropes.
Divide the dough into 8 or 10 pieces. You can eyeball this of weigh each dough ball to the same weight.
Begin to roll each portion of dough into a rope. My ropes ranged from 20 to 25 inches. You want a very lightly floured counter to roll your ropes. The dough sticking to the counter a bit helps roll the ropes – it’s that little bit of tension. Once you have your long rope, take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape.
Place each shaped pretzel on a lightly floured place on your counter and continue until all pretzels are shaped.
Your water should be boiling by now. If it’s not, crank the heat and get a nice rolling boil. Carefully add the baking soda. The water will rise, fizz, and fuss but then calm down.
Keep the water at a boil and with floured hands, gently lower two shaped pretzels into the water. Allow to simmer for 20 seconds. They’ll float to the top. Use a big slotted kitchen utensil to remove the pretzels from the boiling water and onto the prepared baking sheets. Give an inch or so between pretzels. Repeat until all of the pretzels are boiled.
To make sweet pretzels, brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

To make savory pretzels, brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Bake pretzels, one pan at a time, for 12-13 minutes. The pretzels will rise and crack as they bake up to golden brown. Rotate the pan once during baking. Repeat with the second pan.

Serve pretzels with melted butter, mustard, or beer cheese. Enjoy warm!

Mythology

It starts so humbly with yeast, warm water, and flour, but it’s pure magic how the pretzel dough rises to the occasion every time. It’s twisted into a joyful heart, boiled, baked, then dunked into bubbly cheese or spicy mustard for good measure. This little charm brings big transformation into one's life. Let’s be like the pretzel: rise up in the warmth of our homes, embrace levity, and create joy in our communities.

Shop the Pretzel collection