Thank you Terranea for a complimentary stay, in order to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.
Easy soft pretzels with a crispy outer part, and a pillowy soft inside. These are ridiculously easy to make, and taste awesome. You will absolutely love this recipe for soft pretzels.
Soft pretzels are one of my favorite snacks. There is just something about that slightly crispy outside, and pillowy soft inside, with a butter glaze, and some large crystal salt. They are amazing. I don’t eat much bread, but I will eat ALL the pretzels. All of them.
I recently went on an amazing vacation to Terranea Resort in LA with some blogger friends, we ate at the casual dining restaurant Nelson’s. And ordered a ton of appetizers. One of the appetizers was a soft pretzel appetizer, and it just reminded me how much I love soft pretzels.
When I got home I bought a box of soft pretzels from Sam’s Club for a baseball theme birthday party. They were good, but not that good. And, I figured I could make some for a fraction of the price. I found several recipes. Some where better than others. I basically took a little from each recipe and created this super easy, buttery, soft pretzel recipe. It doesn’t get any easier than this, as it is basically just flour, water, yeast, and salt. All things you have in your pantry (or fridge) right now I bet!
Anyway, before we talk any more about these yummy pretzels, let’s talk about Terranea and the food there! Literally every single bite rocked my world. Terranea is a Mediterranean style resort right on the peninsula of Palos Verdes. The resort is gorgeous, and has an oceanfront golf course, 4 pools, 8 unique dining experiences that absolutely blew me away, nature trails, and a 50,000-square-foot spa, salon, and fitness center. This post can only cover the tip of the iceburg on how insanely awesome this place was.
So let’s talk about the food. I was there with a group of food bloggers, so food was a top concern on our mind. And Terranea delivered big time. We started with a culinary tour of the beautiful fine dining on property restaurant Mar’sel. We got to meet with Chef de Cuisine Andrew Vaughan. He told us about his cooking philosophies, the fresh ingredients they use, the farm they have to grow their food on, and so much more. It was an awesome experience, with incredible ocean views, and fantastic foods!
Later that evening we got to eat at Mar’sel and I ordered all the specials, and they were absolutely mouthwatering. From the giant scallops to the colorful beets, to the morel mushroom toast. You guys, I was in food heaven. For my entree I had fish, and lobster, and barrata, and then dessert was this amazing s’mores dish. I am salivating just thinking about it. We ate for 5 hours!!! I can’t even begin to tell you what an experience that was. In fact, I was absolutely positive the rest of our trip we would not be able to top the dining experience we had at Mar’sel. However, the next morning we went to Nelson’s, their oceanfront casual dining restaurant, and once again I was blown away.
As stated, we ordered a ridiculous amount of appetizers, and every one of them was better than I expected. I ordered lobster tacos as my appetizer, and a seafood cobb salad as my entree. We also ordered soft pretzels for the table. Which were so good. This is a slightly different take on the soft pretzel than I had at Nelson’s in Terranea. Both are delicious. I wanted some that were just a little smaller, and just as crispy and with a pillowy soft interior. The pretzels from Nelson’s were dark and beautiful on the outside. And yum, they were insane. But for the home cook, I wanted something that was really easy. So instead of pre-cooking them in a pot of boiling water, I made a quick and easy water bath using the microwave. Anyway, this recipe was made in homage to the pieces of pretzel I was too full to eat, and therefore left behind in the beautiful Terranea.
You guys, the thing was, the food was great. There were a lot of amazing bites, from the macarons they served us at check in to the cronuts we got at a quick breakfast at Sea Beans, and the cheese platter I managed to down during the buffet at Catalina Kitchen, but the amazing experience went far beyond the awesome flavors and fresh produce. It was also the service. The attention to detail. The friendliness. The professionalism. We never felt rushed, despite having 2-3 hour meals every time we sat down. The staff was amazing. At one point, the room service staff brought in some chocolate and wine to our room. When he asked if I would like him to uncork the wine and I let him know I did not drink, he was so gracious, and offered an alternative. He returned a few minutes later with sparkling cider. It wasn’t much, but the whole weekend was made up of little moments like that where the service was unbeatable.
We got to do a few excursions through the resort. The first was a trip to the tide pools. Our guide, James, told us all about the various coves we were seeing, some history of the area, and went out of his way to point out the sealife, and bring it up for us to see, touch, and enjoy. We got to get up close and personal with some harbor seals, and sea stars. We saw whales. And enjoyed the beauty of the ocean.
We also got to visit the local vineyard and kitchen garden the resort uses for Mar’sel. It was beautiful. Head Chef Ibarra gave us a tour, and it was so pleasant to chat with him, and learn about his food philosophies. After we visited the gardens, he took us to the salt conservatory, and showed us the process they use to make their flavored sea salts right there on property. Then we got to sample 4 different flavors of salts and plain sea salt. You guys!!! I wish I could have had each and every one of you there with me. We had cucumbers with meyer lemon salt, grilled pineapple with smoked salt, crostini with rosemary salt, chocolates with regular salt. Every. single. bite. It was fantastic.
Anyway, everything was awesome, and I highly recommend staying at Terranea. The rooms are beautiful, the service amazing. And when you get home, make yourself some awesome, easy, buttery, soft pretzels.
Go make these right now! You won’t regret it.
My neighbor works at the airport, and her kids LOVE pretzels, they always ask her to bring them home from the pretzel place in the airport. While she likes to surprise them with soft pretzels from time to time, they are PRICEY. She asked if I had a good recipe, I shared this recipe with her, and her kids love them too.
You can eat these with salt, dipped in cheese, with cinnamon and sugar, or however else you like them! I even made a version with sun dried tomatoes inside of it. Delicious! These also freeze well, but only for about a month. So go ahead and try them out. You will love them so much!
You can also try these Easy Garlic Butter Soft Pretzel Bites for a quick, portable snack.
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 c all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp instant quick rise yeast
- 1 cup warm water 110 degrees F
- Melted butter to brush on top after baking
Soda Wash
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 Tbs Baking soda
Instructions
- Mix the pretzel dough ingredients in mixer on medium speed until combined and dough forms. Let mix 3-5 minutes to help develop gluten and get the right consistency for the dough.
- Put in Ziploc bag, let rise 30 mins.
Soda Wash
- Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tbsp baking soda
- Cook in microwave 1 min
Pretzels
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
- After dough rises 30 minutes, cut into 8 pieces, roll into ropes and pretzels. (this is the point where you freeze them if not making them day of)
- Lightly grease a baking sheet
- Dip each pretzel into the soda wash mixture.
- Sprinkle with salt, let rest 10 mins
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. remove from oven when golden brown on exterior and cooked through
- Brush with butter while hot, and sprinkle with additional salt if desired.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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