Pizza Pretzels

These Pizza Pretzels are a fun twist on a regular soft pretzel recipe. These Small Batch Pretzels are covered in cheese and pepperoni and served with the dip of your choice. These cheese pretzels are going to be a crowd favourite!

Pizza Pretzels

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for these Pepperoni Pizza Pretzels with you. Before we left New York I redeveloped my Pretzel dough recipe and made a few things with it which I will share here. The pretzel dough is super versatile and easy to make, so I am excited to show off what it can do!

I had a bag of tiny pepperoni in my fridge so naturally I had to make cheese pretzels and then take it one step further and add the pepperoni to make pizza pretzels.

These cheese pretzels are covered in pepperoni and are just so good. I scaled the recipe back to a small batch pretzel recipe. The cheese is crunchy and the pepperoni is salty and flavourful. You can serve them with whatever you like - I used a tomato based sauce but they would also be amazing with hot honey.

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How to make Small Batch Pretzels

I scaled back my regular pretzel recipe, which made 12 large pretzels. This smaller batch pretzel recipe makes 6 pretzels, but you can easily double it if you like.

This recipe is a pretty stiff dough, so I like to make it in the stand mixer with the dough hook. I haven't tried making it by hand. It would be quite hard to knead it by hand I think. You are welcome to try but please know it has not been tested so I cannot guarantee the results.

• Make the Pretzel Dough. This can be done either the day before, or the same day. Leave to rise.
• Divide the dough and shape the pretzels. I did traditional pretzel shapes, but these would work great just as pretzel sticks or twists too.
• Second rise. I do the second rise for pretzels uncovered, in order to let the pretzels develop a bit of a skin. This helps them stand up to the water bath.
• Chill. Slightly chilled dough is a little less floppy and easier to work with when putting the pretzels in the water bath. Popping the risen pretzels into the fridge helps with this.
• Baking Soda bath. This step gives the pretzels their pretzel taste and helps them to get golden brown in the oven. I used baked baking soda for this step.
• Add cheese and pepperoni. These are pizza pretzels, so I added grated cheese and tiny pepperoni. Leave the pepperoni off if you would just like plain cheese pretzels.
• Bake. Bake the pretzels until they are golden brown, the cheese is nice and bubbly and the pepperoni is nice and sizzly.
• Enjoy! Serve alongside some dipping sauce of your choice.

How to Shape a Pretzel

Pretzels are easy to shape once you get the hang of it. I've added a shaping video down below, or you can follow these steps:

1. Divide the dough into the number of pretzels that you want to make.
2. Shape each piece of dough into a ball and place under a piece of plastic wrap to rest.
3. Flatten or roll each ball into a rectangle and then roll into a log. Place back under the plastic wrap.
4. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the log out to a 30" rope. This will seem long but remember that the pretzel will puff up.
5. Shape the log of dough into a 'U' shape.
6. Cross the two ends over each other twice, to form a twist.
7. Bring the ends down and press onto the rounded part of the pretzel.
8. Carefully transfer to a sheet pan
9. Repeat with the remaining pretzels

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Baking Soda vs Lye for Pretzels

Some pretzel recipes will have you use lye to soak the pretzels in. Giving the pretzels a wee bath in lye (sodium hydroxide) helps to speed up the Maillard reaction, which gives the pretzels that lovely brown colour and chew. However, lye is caustic (alkaline) and scary, so I used something a little less alkaline but still very effective - baked baking soda. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is moderately alkaline, but baking it produces sodium carbonate, which is slightly more alkaline, so therefore perfect for dipping your pretzels without having to worry about the safety risk of using Lye. Yay chemistry!

To make baked baking soda: Line a sheet pan with foil, and spread 1 cup of baking soda evenly over it. Bake at 250˚f / 121˚c for one hour, then transfer to an airtight container. This will be enough for four batches of pretzels - you use ¼ cup at a time.

Pepperoni and Cheese Pretzels

I found these tiny pepperoni when I was looking for pepperoni for another project, and had no choice but to get them to make these Pizza Pretzels as they are SO CUTE. The brand is "Hormel", and I got them in NYC just via online grocery. If you can't find them (they seemed to be a bit of a niche product), you can cut up a salami stick to form little circles of salami. Alternatively you could use slices of regular sized salami.

Make sure that you put enough pepperoni on the pizza pretzels - as they bake they will rise a little and it will get spread out. You can always add more mid way through the baking process.

If you don't eat meat you can just leave the pepperoni off. You could sprinkle the cheese pretzels with pizza style condiments too before baking - garlic powder, or chilli flakes, or some oregano! You do you here.

Baking Pretzels on Silpat vs Parchment

I use Silpat mats (silicone mats) when I am making pretzels as it stops them from sticking. I came across this in testing. After the pretzels came out of the water bath, if I put them directly onto the parchment, they were sticking super, super badly.

There are two ways around this - either drain the pretzels for a few minutes on a wire rack after dipping and then transfer to lightly oiled parchment paper, or line the baking sheets with silpats or silicone baking sheets rather than baking paper.

I found baking on silicone to be the easiest option - once the pretzels come out of the dip they are a little delicate, so moving them from the rack to the baking sheet can be a little stressful. It works though! A few silpats or silicone baking mats are a great investment! With these Pizza Pretzels the cheese doesn't stick to the mat too, so makes the whole process much easier.

Do I have to do the baking soda bath?
If you don't, they won't taste like pretzels. The soak in the alkaline solution is what gives them the pretzel taste. It also gives the cheese something to stick to.

What is Pretzel Salt?
Pretzel salt is a coarse salt - it is opaque (which I think comes from having some air in it), so it gives a textural crunch. You can use a fine coarse salt too if you can't find pretzel salt

Which type of cheese is best for Pretzels?
I used a mixture of grated mozzarella and cheddar, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Mozzarella is mild and stretchy and goes great with the pepperoni slices.

How should pizza pretzels be stored?
I store these just in an airtight container or wrapped in foil if it isn't too hot. You can put them wrapped in the fridge if you like. To reheat you can pop in the microwave and re-warm. They are best eaten on the day that they are made though!

Can I replace Instant Yeast with Active Dry?
Yes. If you only have active dry yeast, it works as a 1:1 sub in the recipe. However you will need to activate it. Bring the milk to a lukewarm temperature, then add the sugar and the yeast. Leave for 10-15 minutes until it gets foamy, then add the rest of the ingredients and continue with the recipe.

What is Bread Flour?
Bread flour is flour with a higher percentage of protein. If you are in NZ or the UK it is 'high grade flour' or 'strong flour'

Can the beer in the recipe be replaced?
Yes, if you don't want to use it, you can use water.

For similar recipes, check out:

• Pretzels with Cheese Sauce Dip
• Caramelised Onion, Goat Cheese, and Sundried Tomato Pesto Pretzel Buns
• Pretzel Bites with Feta Pesto Dip

Recipe for Pizza Pretzels

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