Olive Oil Soft Pretzels

Olive oil soft pretzels are hearty and tender (and dairy-free). They feature that classic pretzel taste with a hint of olive oil flavor for a twist on a favorite bread recipe. Perfect for dipping!

This one is for all of you olive oil lovers out there. I’m guessing there are a lot of you, no? Growing up my mom’s pizza dough recipe included a seriously hefty glug-glug of olive oil, and since then I’ve been conditioned to love the discernible taste of olive oil in breads and doughs.

Now here’s a bit of a food confession, but I’m not really a fan of sweet soft pretzels. The aroma of buttery sugary cinnamon pretzel sweetness that never fails to radiate from soft pretzel booths at the mall? Not a siren song for me. Nine times out of ten my pretzel cravings lean savory, with that classic pretzel crust, sprinkling of coarse salt, and plenty of coarse ground mustard or creamy smoked gouda dip for dunking. I could make a meal out of them!

And I have. 😉

Recipe ingredients

Homemade soft pretzels seem like more work than homemade bread. And while that’s sort of true, the ingredients and steps are essentially the same until we get right to the end.

Just like from-scratch bread, you’ll need fairly basic ingredients for this recipe. Yeast is a given, along with warm water, all-purpose flour, salt, and olive oil. That’s it! Those five ingredients are all you need to form the base pretzel dough.

The quarter-cup of olive oil included here makes the dough tender and imparts a delicious flavor in the final product. These are called ‘olive oil soft pretzels’, after all.

The other ingredients in the recipe card look wild in scale, but are vital in turning simple bread dough into pretzels. Ten cups of water and two-thirds cup (!) baking soda aren’t typos, rather they’re the solution the formed pretzels take a dunk in to form the pretzel crust we know and love.

What’s left is a brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of coarse/pretzel salt to complete these dairy-free soft pretzels.

Step-by-step instructions

We start by activating the yeast in warm water (around 110-115°F), and then adding the rest of the dough ingredients: flour, salt, and olive oil. An instant-read kitchen thermometer takes all the guesswork out of getting the temperature right. Mix the ingredients for several minutes, or until a ball of dough forms.

Let this ball of dough rise until it has doubled in size, or about one hour. When I make bread in bowls that don’t have inner marking for quantities, I like to take a quick picture with my phone of the dough at the beginning, and then use that to compare when the dough looks to be about double in size. That’s probably overkill, but I like that extra bit of assurance that everything is on track.

Once the dough has risen, portion it off into eight equally-sized pieces, roll each into long, narrow ropes, and twist them up into pretzel form (more on this twisting business in the recipe card below). Keep in mind these pretzels will puff up considerably and expand as they bake, so the narrower the better for these ropes.

Here’s where the fun starts. Pretzels get their classic darker crust and flavor because they’re dunked in a lye solution before baking. That sounds more scientific than things typically get around these parts, but really it’s a big pot of boiling water with a lot of baking soda added to it.

Each newly-formed pretzel will take a dip into the lye solution for thirty or so seconds – not long at all. Afterwards they’ll return to their baking sheets, be sprinkled with coarse salt, and bake until the crust turns a deep, dark, delicious, golden brown.

Reheating instructions

These dairy-free soft pretzels are best enjoyed warm. If you and your crowd aren’t up for devouring eight pretzels ASAP, any leftover ones can be reheated in the oven. Simply wrap the pretzel(s) in foil and place in a 350°F oven until warmed. I don’t recommend reheating in the microwave because they can get gummy.

Olive Oil Soft Pretzels

Olive oil soft pretzels are hearty and tender (and dairy-free). They feature that classic pretzel taste with a hint of olive oil flavor for a twist on a favorite bread recipe. Perfect for dipping!

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Course: Breads

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 22 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Rise Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 34 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 313kcal

Author: Alyssa

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115°F)
• ▢ 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (equivalent to 1 packet)
• ▢ 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/4 cup olive oil
• ▢ 10 cups water
• ▢ 2/3 cup baking soda
• ▢ Olive oil for brushing
• ▢ Coarse kosher salt or pretzel salt, for sprinkling

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Instructions

• Add 1 1/2 cups warm water and yeast to a bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) and let sit for 4-5 minutes. Stir to dissolve the yeast into the water.
• Add flour, salt, and olive oil to the bowl with the water/yeast. Begin to mix on low speed (so the flour doesn't fly everywhere), and then increase speed to medium as the ingredients begin to be worked in. Knead the dough this way for 2-3 minutes, or until a cohesive, only-slightly-sticky ball of dough forms.
• Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place for the dough to rise until about doubled in size. This took about an hour for me.
• Once risen, separate dough into 8 equally-sized pieces. Preheat oven to 450°F. At this time fill a large pot with 10 cups of water and place it on the stovetop over high heat.
• Roll each dough section into a narrow rope about 20"-24" long.
• Form each rope into a U-shape and twist the very tops of the "U" over each other once, and then once again. This forms the pretzel twist.
• Fold the rope in half, horizontally, bringing the twisted part down. It should resemble a pretzel! Press the bottom of the twist to the bottom of the pretzel to adhere. Repeat with the remainder of the dough, and place pretzels on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Once the pot of water is boiling, add 2/3 cup of baking soda and stir to dissolve. The water will bubble up, so please do this carefully.
• Using kitchen tongs, transfer each pretzel to the pot of boiling water and submerge it for half a minute. I did this two at a time, so four batches. Return pretzels back to their baking sheets (they shouldn't look much different at all from pre-dunk).
• Brush pretzels with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.
• Bake pretzels for 12 or so minutes, or until the pretzels are a deep golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition

Serving: 1whole pretzel | Calories: 313kcal | Carbohydrates: 54.1g | Protein: 7.7g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 735mg | Potassium: 98mg | Fiber: 2.1g | Sugar: 0.2g | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 3.4mg

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Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

Adapted from Food Network