Whole Wheat Pretzels
This Whole Wheat Pretzels recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour! The soft pretzels are fluffy and delicious, and coated with cinnamon sugar. They may also be enjoyed plain, or with other coatings and dips.
Every time I post a bread recipe on Fifteen Spatulas, I almost inevitably get at least one person asking me this:
“Can I make this bread with whole wheat flour instead of white?”
Oh how this question would pain me, because I would have to break the bad news.
You see, you can’t just swap all purpose flour and whole wheat flour whenever you want, and expect the same results.
The reason it doesn’t work is because whole wheat flour has significantly less protein than white flour and bread flour, which means less gluten-developing ability. Which is why even for my Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns, we use a mix of both flours.
For recipes like Whole Wheat Pancakes or The Very Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies made with whole wheat, it doesn’t matter since we don’t want to develop gluten.
But with bread, gluten is practically everything.
It’s why we spend 10 minutes working that dough, so we can develop a big strong web of gluten-rich dough that can hold in the gas bubbles that the yeast make, and give the dough rise.
Translation: Without gluten, bread would be heavy and dense, instead of light and fluffy. The yeast would be producing its gas bubbles, but there would be nothing to catch and hold those gas bubbles in.
One of the most popular recipes on Fifteen Spatulas (and one of my personal LOVES) is Hot Buttered Fluffy Pretzels, and well, apparently today is my happy day because now if someone asks me, “Joanne, can I use whole wheat flour instead of white flour for this recipe?” I can say….YES!!!! Thanks to some super magical yeast =)
This super magical yeast I used is this Platinum Superior Baking Yeast. It has dough enhancers that strengthen the dough, and give the bread more rise and oven spring.
The minute I got my hands on some of this yeast, I knew I had to test out the Hot Buttered Fluffy Pretzels…made with 100% Whole Wheat Flour.
It turned out to be a total kitchen success. I discovered that I was able to make the soft baked pretzels entirely out of whole wheat flour.
Step by Step Overview:
These homemade pretzels are made in virtually the same way as my plain pretzels, but let’s walk through the process.
First make the dough by kneading together whole wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, and sugar.
I do this in the bowl of a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment, though you can also make it by hand.
Let the dough rise for a half hour or so in a warm place, and it should have some nice yeast bubbles inside, in between all the bits of whole grain.
Divide the soft dough into eight equal pieces, then roll each one into a long rope on a clean work surface.
Take each single rope and shape into pretzels (see this post for more photos). There should be no stickiness on your hands with this dough!
Dunk each of the whole grain pretzels into a baking soda wash, which is just warm water with baking soda mixed in.
Place each tied up piece of dough onto a baking sheet (I now prefer to line with parchment paper), and let rise for 10 minutes. It should puff up considerably. Then sprinkle on sea salt, if desired:
This time for the whole wheat version, I decided to make them cinnamon sugar pretzels.
It’s not that I don’t like the hot buttered ones…it’s just I’m crazy for cinnamon sugar tossed ANYTHING. Long ago when I’d go to the mall and get lured into the perpetually long line at Auntie Anne’s, I always got the cinnamon sugar one. Because that darned cinnamon smell in the air is what got me every time.
After baking the sheet pan in a 450 F oven for 9 or 10 minutes, until each pretzel is golden brown and puffed, toss each pretzel in cinnamon sugar after brushing with butter, so the cinnamon sugar mixture sticks to the buttered dough.
You can also stay savory by adding other coatings like sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or Everything Bagel Seasoning. Or you can dip into Nacho Cheese Sauce or a beer cheese dip of your choice.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Whole Wheat Pretzels
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 12.5 oz whole wheat flour, by weight (2.5 cups, measured)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 packet Platinum Red Star Yeast
- 1 cup very warm water 120-125 degrees F
For the Soda Wash:
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp baking soda
For the topping:
- vegetable oil for greasing the sheet pan
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Combine all the dough ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix with the paddle attachment until somewhat combined (or just mix by hand with a wooden spoon). Change to the dough hook and knead on medium low for 10 minutes. The dough shouldn’t be sticky, just slightly tacky to the touch. Place the dough in a ziploc bag and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, and lightly grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil. You could also do parchment paper if you can find one that’s rated high enough (most parchment papers I’ve seen only go up to 420 degrees F).
- Remove the dough from the bag and place onto a clean countertop. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (just cut it with a knife).
- Whisk to combine the warm water and baking soda and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. FYI it’s not going to dissolve completely, and that’s okay.
- Roll each of the eight pieces into a long rope, and shape each one into a pretzel (see the step-by-step photos on the blog post to see how to do this).
- Dip each pretzel into the soda wash and place onto the greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, then let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 9 to 10 minutes until the pretzels are golden brown, and prep the cinnamon sugar by whisking the sugar and cinnamon together. Brush the pretzels with the melted butter while they are hot out of the oven, then toss in the cinnamon sugar. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
434 Comments on “Whole Wheat Pretzels”
Hi, I just tried your whole wheat recipe and my dough would not roll out into ropes. It would just crumble apart. I followed the recipe to a T so I am not sure what happened. My dough is now resting after making nuggets out of the dough and I will bake them after the rest. I hope it works. Disappointed because the recipe looked so yummy.
Hi Anna, if it’s not staying together that means there isn’t enough gluten development to hold it. Did you use the Red Star Yeast Platinum or regular yeast?
might no have enough water. dough should hold together even if the gluten isn’t developed…
Very good point Sharon.
Just discovered your sight today. Love it and thanks for your wonderful recipes. I am making the ribs today along with the cheese biscuits. Tonight I am trying the pretzels which I have never made before. I mainly never made pretzels before because it seemed to hard but with your pictures and recipe I know I can do it. Thanks again
Hi Nancy, that’s great! The pretzels are definitely doable, let me know how it goes! Hope you have a nice dinner =)
Can the dough be made and rise via bread machine dough setting?
You would need a longer knead time and a longer rise time as well. What I do is run the machine through the kneading part of the dough cycle. When it gets to the rise, I reset it and start the dough setting over. That way it kneads again. Dough will have a smooth sheen and be stretchy if it has kneaded long enough. Then when the rise is over, I just leave it untouched and let it continue to rise until doubled. Then I take it out, punch it down and use it however I need to. HTH
I did make the ones with white flour. They were very tasty. I cheated a little bit. I bought fresh pizza dough and used that. One thing I didn’t do was roll my dough out far enough so I just laid them across each other.
Hi!
How do you think these will work with regular ol’ yeast? I don’t have any of the platinum on hand and am dying to make these!
Hi Kristin, I haven’t tried it, but I imagine it would still turn out fine, it might be a bit denser with less gluten development but should still be tasty!
I was wandering if you have any recipes using fresh milled flour. I’m milling my own with a Nutrigrain flour meal. I have easily adapted all my quick bread recipes,but not my yeast raised ones. I’d love to try this pretzel recipe with fresh milled flour, but I’m a little hesitant.
Hi Lora, I have not had any experience with fresh milled flour, and so far I haven’t had anyone leave comments about baking with fresh milled flour. If you do try it, please let us know how it goes =)
You can make pretzels with freshly milled flour. Actually Whole wheat flour is very high in protein, higher than white flour, but you have to knead the bread for about twice as long to develop the gluten. I make everything with whole wheat flour. It is very versatile. I have hard red, which is highest in protein and has the nuttiest flavor, hard white, which is better for cake or muffins and then soft white which is nice for pastry. Soft white is lowest in protein, and low in gluten, so it will not make a good bread but will make a very tender pie crust. You can mill all three of these and use them in everything.
Sharon, you are a gem!!! Thanks for sharing your expertise.
I tried this recipe last night with fresh milled flour (I used hard white wheat, milled with my Nutrigrain mill). It worked great with this yeast! Fear not! 🙂
Hi! I just wanted to tell you that your recipes are amazing! I just made these pretzels and they were really delicous, everyone in my house (including me!) ate them up so fast! I was a little scared to make pretzels at home, but was at the mall yesterday and passed by auntie anns pretzels and wanted one soo bad but know they are loaded with calories, so having a delicious whole wheat one with cinnamon, splenda, and spray butter definately did the trick! Your recipes are great, easy to follow and I love the videos! I dont know how you stay so tiny with all of this delicious food hahah! keep up the good work, you have the best food website on the internet, these pretzels were right on with taste, texture and came out just like the pictures, thank you soo much for your website!! 🙂
Hi Christina, thanks so much! Can’t believe someone called me tiny, made my day LOL. I struggle…I count calories most days, it’s a pain! So glad you loved these pretzels!!!
I am anxious to try these. We love to try new things.
My fav bread is cinnamon raisin, followed by a light and fluffy french bread.
garlic chiabatta – yummmmm
I will make these this weekend! I’ve already shown these pictures to the hubster. Looks very, very good.
these look and sound sooo good…my daughter loves pretzels and we have been wanting to make some..think we will try these!
You used a baking soda wash for the whole wheat but not the white, is there a reason or am I just missing something?
Hi Denise, it’s there for the white pretzels, it’s in the recipe instructions but not in the picture part (because I didn’t get a good picture). But it is listed in the ingredients and instructions. Hope that helps!
Sure does, have not made it that far yet. 😉
I am so excited to make these…..I am not a baker, I love to cook, but baking scares me to death LOL…. I am making these with 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour….. I mix my flour in my tub and so that is all I have…….hope they turn out well…. thanks for the post, found you on pinterest and love it
Hi Angela, these will go very well with a mix of the flours. Don’t be scared, just make sure to measure accurately. Good luck!
mine always stick to the pan…how do i prevent this?
Hi Gina, are you using a nonstick (coated) pan or an uncoated pan?
use Reynolds non-stick foil…..nothing sticks to it and you save on extra calories by not using spray oils
I can not what to try the whole wheat soft baked pretzels with my grankids. They love to cook.