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📍 Pennsylvania

Philadelphia soft pretzel

· Street food

A large, soft baked pretzel with a golden crust and coarse salt, sold on the streets of Philadelphia with mustard.

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Philadelphia soft pretzel: A large, soft baked pretzel with a golden crust and coarse salt, sold on the streets of Philadelphia with mustard.
Photo: Sarah Stierch · CC0 · via Wikimedia CommonsPhoto resized, converted to WebP and cropped for display.
⏱ 75 min🍽 6 servings📊 Intermediate🏷 Commonly associated🌱 Vegetarian🌱 Dairy-free
Preparation
60 min
Cooking
15 min
Waiting and resting
0 min

History

The pretzel came to Pennsylvania with German immigrants (Pennsylvania Dutch), and Philadelphia adopted it as street food. The city's soft pretzel usually has an elongated shape and is sold on street corners to eat with yellow mustard. The region still has pretzel bakeries and factories with more than a century of history.

Ingredients

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Preparation

  1. 1

    Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water; mix with the flour and salt and knead until you have a smooth dough.

  2. 2

    Let it rest, covered, until doubled in volume.

  3. 3

    Divide the dough, form long ropes, and give them the classic pretzel shape.

  4. 4

    Dip each pretzel for a few seconds in boiling water with the baking soda.

  5. 5

    Place them on the tray, sprinkle with coarse salt, and bake at 220 °C until deeply golden.

  6. 6

    Serve warm with yellow mustard.

Cooking tips

  • Use 2 liters water for the baking-soda bath and dip each piece about 30 seconds.

References to consult

References provide information about the dish, its context or a technique. Quantities in this version may differ from those in the source.

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