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”
These look amazing! And I LOVE that they’re 100% whole wheat. 😀
Am I being really silly here or is there no “view older comments” button? I even had my husband look and we can’t find it.
I wanted to ctrl + F for white whole wheat 😉
oh boy, are we excited about these pretzels! i run a dycare in Upstate NY and the kids love coming after a long day at school and sitting down to a snack of hot pretzels..it’s definitely a favorite. Unfortunately, NYS regulations changed as of 1/1/14 and we now are required to serve only whole wheat or whole grain items. As you can imagine, the kids are less than thrilled by this but Ithink that these fluffy beauties with choice of toppings are going to be a hit~we’ll find out tomorrow!
Thanks Redstar and 15 Spatulas!
Hope they go well Nora!
We love making homemade dinner rolls and buns. When we go fishing the sandwiches hold together better without getting mushy.
We now have been doing gluten free baking. It took some time to know what it was supposed to look like before baking. Totally diff. Mo kneading. Dough is wet. The rise only goes to the rim before baking. Otherwise there is a nasty volcanic overflow! Lol learning as I hope.
Love your site and your videos.
Hi Joanne 🙂
Silly question… I don’t have a stand mixer so do I still kneed the dough by hand for 10 minutes or for a different amount of time? Also, would whole wheat pastry flour work for these or should I stick the non-pastry variety?
Thank you!
Hi Jennette, I think it will likely take a similar amount of time to knead by hand, but you should look for visual cues to see when the dough is cohesive. I actually am not familiar with whole wheat pastry flour…I don’t think I’ve seen it at my store! Hope you enjoy =)
I love pretzels with salt and butter fresh out of the oven! I have always boiled my pretzels before cooking them. I am excited to try your recipe.
Hope you enjoy the pretzels Valerie!
Oh my, I remember growing up and smelling Challah. My mom loved to bake, cook and keep the house the one everyone wanted to come over to.
I bake bread regularly, and a house favorite it always cinnamon raisin swirl for breakfasts or my garlic, Italian herb and parmesan bread to go with our meal for pasta nights!
Just for those people asking about the normal yeast, you can use normal yeast if you use Vital Wheat gluten added when the flour goes in…. just a teaspoon or so will do the trick… i believe that is what they add too that special yeast. You can find it in Bulk at big supermarkets, or by Bobs Red Mill. PS I miss the Soft Pretzels at Costco and these taste exactly the same!!! Way to go!!!!
I am looking forward to experimenting with this recipe, as well as the fluffy buttered recipe. I am diabetic so I tend to stay away from wheat products. I am hoping this would work with oat flour (I just buy old fashioned oatmeal and put it in my bullet to create flour). I’m still playing with this idea with varying success because I just love breads.
Hi Katrina, unfortunately I don’t believe oat flour will work for this recipe because of the inability to create gluten (which is essential for the pretzels to hold together). I’m sorry to hear you are diabetic, that must be challenging to adjust your cooking and baking.
Hmmm . . . perhaps 50/50 oat flour and wheat flour with that new yeast. Or using regular flour. Eventually I will get around to it. 🙂
Your blog is beautiful, thanks for the awesome recipes! I’ve been wanting to try pretzels and these are where I’ll start. I think I’ll forgo the cinnamon sugar and make my own spicy mustard instead. Do you have any recipes you’d recommend? Thanks so much!
Hi Tarun, thanks!! The spicy mustard sounds great. I’ve actually never made my own mustard before, though I remember seeing a Food & Wine recipe that I thought looked good. I usually do a search online and see if something is well reviewed. Enjoy!
These are perfection.
Hi Joanne–
I tried these and they didn’t go well. My dough didn’t have the beautiful bubbles! I would’ve tossed them but my kids, always the optimists, thought I should bake them anyway. As I suspected, they were dense and heavy. I’m not sure where I went wrong with these but I’m the kind of person who can eat a hot pretzel everyday so I will stick to the original recipe. Thanks Joanne!
Hi Veronica, from everything you described, it sounds like the yeast was dead. Do you think the yeast was fresh enough? If the yeast isn’t expired, then the other possibility is that the water was too hot. Did you measure with a thermometer?
Hi Joanne,
The yeast was fresh– I just went out and bought the Platinum yeast so I know it was fresh…. although, now that you mention it…. I think I forgot to measure the water with a thermometer. :-/ Hmm….. ok, that might have been my fault. Looks like I will be trying these again with, hopefully, much better results!
Thanks again!
My favorite bread is whole wheat with added millet, using the cold fermentation method by Peter Reinhart.
Joanne,
My favorite bread recipe is whole wheat pizza dough.
It’s wonderful that you are so responsive to your fans. I was just telling my husband how dedicated you are in keeping up with comments and responding to requests, like those for turning recipes into whole-wheat recipes (which happens to be a diet restriction for me!).
And your photography and videography are both stunning. You know how to do a cooking website!
Annie
Thanks so much Annie! I do my best haha. Sometimes it’s overwhelming but replying to comments is important to me. Thanks for your support!
Joanne,
My favorite bread recipe is whole wheat pizza dough.
It’s wonderful that you are so responsive to your fans. I was just telling my husband how dedicated you are in keeping up with comments and responding to requests, like those for turning recipes into whole-wheat recipes (which happens to be a diet restriction for me!).
And your photography and videography are both stunning. You know how to do a cooking website!
Annie
Hello ladies (and gentlemen if I missed you),
I have a good 2lbs of corn flour left over from a tortilla chip experiment; what say you on the prospect of turning out corn pretzels?
Best,
H
Hi Harold, gluten development is essential for this recipe and you won’t be able to develop any with corn flour.