Recipe · Crispinator® Max
Soft pretzel sticks with spicy honey mustard
Homemade pretzels become so much more doable when you skip the fussy twisting and make simple sticks. They’re easier to handle in their boiling soda-water bath and they taste just as good. (Or better!)
Ingredients
For the mustard
- ⅓ cup Dijon mustard
- ⅓ cup honey
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp pickled jalapeños, finely chopped
For the pretzels
- ¾ cup warm water (95°F-110°F)
- 1½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 heaping tsp instant yeast
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 8 cups water
- ¼ cup baking soda
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- Flaky salt for topping
You'll need
- Stand mixer with a dough hook
- Ovenproof bowl such as glass or stainless steel, at least 10 inches high
- Parchment paper
- Pastry brush
Method
- Make the mustard: In a medium bowl, combine the Dijon, honey, garlic powder, smoked paprika and chopped pickled jalapeños. Cover and set aside until ready to serve.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, 1½ tsp sugar, salt and yeast. Mix gently. Let sit until the yeast blooms, about 10 minutes.
- Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture and beat with the dough hook on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball, about 3 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a clean surface and continue to knead a little longer until it is smooth and slightly less sticky, about 2 minutes.
- Add the oil to an ovenproof bowl at least 4 inches tall. Place the dough in the bowl and give it a few turns until it is completely coated in oil. Drape the top loosely with plastic wrap so there is room for the dough to rise.
- Insert the wire rack in the oven’s bottom position and set the bowl onto rack.
- Set the oven to Proof at 105°F for 1 hour. Press Start.
- After proofing for 1 hour, the dough should be doubled in size. Carefully remove the bowl from the oven and transfer the dough to a clean surface.
- Press the dough into a rectangle and cut into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball, and then into a stick, each 4 to 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. Transfer to a paper towel-lined sheet pan.
- Insert the wire rack in the oven’s middle position.
- Set the oven to Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Press Start and let the oven preheat while you boil the pretzels.
- In a medium saucepan, combine 8 cups water, sugar and baking soda and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Carefully add 4 pretzel sticks to the water and cook for about 30 seconds. Using a wire skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer the pretzels back to the sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining 4 pretzels.
- Line the oven’s baking pan with parchment. Transfer the pretzel sticks to the pan.
- Brush beaten egg white over the sides and tops of the pretzels, then sprinkle with flaky salt.
- At this point, the oven should be well heated. Insert baking pan into the oven.
- Bake the pretzels until dark golden-brown and fluffy, 7 to 8 minutes (you may need to add time to the baking cycle).
- Remove the pretzels from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack to cool slightly.
- Serve the pretzels warm with the mustard dipping sauce.
