Baker's yeast
Baker's yeast is a cultivated living leavener, commonly sold fresh or dried. In dough, selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells make gas that can raise bread.
Modern method
Sourdough discard pretzels
Sourdough Pretzels
Unfed sourdough starter flavours a soft pretzel dough raised with instant yeast. After a short rest, the dough is shaped, brushed with a sweet wash, salted and baked without a final proof.
A modern use for starter removed at feeding
PJ Hamel's 2011 account presents these pretzels as one use for starter removed during routine feeding. The recipe combines that unfed starter with instant yeast, giving home bakers a short-rest dough rather than relying on a refreshed starter alone. Its publication documents this modern version; it does not date the beginning of pretzel baking.
Hamel also explains the sweet wash as a recipe-development choice for browning, reporting blotchy results in her own baking-soda trials. That observation describes the testing behind this particular formula, not a reason to reject other bakers' alkaline-bath methods.
Sources for this section
Keep the two pretzel methods separate
King Arthur's German-style recipe is a separate ten-piece batch: it uses a boiling baking-soda bath and a 450°F oven, with soda replacing an original lye treatment. The twelve discard pretzels here receive a sugar-or-malt wash and bake at 350°F without a final proof. A shared knot shape does not make the washes, doughs or bake schedules interchangeable.
The starter gives this batch a sourdough connection, while the listed instant yeast remains part of its raising method.
Sources for this section
History
Soft pretzels have many regional traditions, but this is a modern discard-starter version developed for home bakers. PJ Hamel described making pretzels with starter removed during routine feeding in 2011. The discard brings sourdough flavour, while added instant yeast raises the dough quickly; the shaped pretzels are baked without a second proof.
Ingredients
Yield 12 pretzels · Scaling: source batch only
Water for doughdough
198 g
Sourdough starterunfed discard
227 g
Bread flourdough
360 g
Dry milkBaker’s Special or nonfat
28 g
Granulated sugar for dough (optional)choose this or 18 g non-diastatic malt powder
14 g
Non-diastatic malt powder for dough (optional)choose this or 14 g granulated sugar
18 g
Butter for dough (optional)choose this or 1 tbsp vegetable oil
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
Vegetable oil (optional)choose this or 1 tbsp butter
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
Table saltdough
9 g
Instant yeastdough
9.9 mL2 tsp as recorded
Granulated sugar for wash (optional)choose this or 9 g non-diastatic malt powder
14 g
Non-diastatic malt powder for wash (optional)choose this or 14 g granulated sugar
9 g
Water for washtopping wash
28 g
Pretzel saltsprinkle lightly after the wash
Amount not stated
Butter for finish (optional)melted; optional after baking
28 g
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Raw flour
Raw flour can contain E. coli or Salmonella before baking.
Hazard sourceDo not taste uncooked dough; bake according to the recipe and wash hands, bowls, utensils and worktops after raw-flour contact.
Control sourceRaw flour can carry harmful bacteria. Do not eat the uncooked dough; bake the pretzels and wash hands, tools and worktops after handling it.
- Prepare a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Mix and knead the water, starter, flour, dry milk, chosen dough sweetener, chosen dough fat, table salt and instant yeast into a cohesive, fairly smooth, slightly sticky dough.
- Cover the dough and rest it for 45 minutes; it will rise only a little. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) toward the end of the rest.
- Gently fold the dough on a lightly greased surface, then divide it into 12 pieces of about 70 g each. Roll each piece into an 18-inch rope and shape it into a pretzel.
- Dissolve the chosen wash sweetener in the wash water. Brush the shaped pretzels, sprinkle lightly with pretzel salt, and bake without a second rise for 25–30 minutes, until light golden brown.
- Brush the baked pretzels with the optional melted butter.
Conditions
Yield12 pretzels
Active time20 min
Fermentation0.75 h
Temperature controlAmbient, monitored
Places
United States
Modern adaptation · Country evidenceUS publication of a modern sourdough-discard pretzel, not an origin claim for pretzels.
Related
Made from
Butter
Butter is a milk-fat emulsion made by churning cream. It enriches dough or finishes bread; melted, cool and room-temperature butter serve different recipe roles.
Dry milk
Dry milk is a family of dairy ingredients made by removing most water from milk or cream. The name includes distinct whole, partly skimmed and nonfat powders; fat level, heat treatment and particle form determine handling and use.
Non-diastatic malt powder
Enzyme-inactive malt powder adds malty flavor and crust color. In King Arthur's sourdough discard pretzels it is an optional choice in both the dough and a brushed wash, each with a separate sugar alternative.
Pretzel salt
Pretzel salt is chosen for the crystals left on a baked surface. Grain size, shape and any coating determine how it adheres, dissolves and tastes.
Sourdough and baking yeast cultures
Sourdough starter is a maintained flour-and-water community of yeasts and bacteria. Commercial baker’s yeast is a separate cultured leavener, used alone or with starter in hybrid dough.
Vegetable oil
A broad kitchen label for edible oils pressed or extracted from many plant sources, each with its own flavor, composition and handling needs.
Read more
Salt: the mineral, the work and the foods it makes
Salt seasons a meal, shapes fermentation and preserves food. Its history follows the people who mine, harvest, trade and transform it, and the choices hidden inside an ordinary packet.
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Sources
King Arthur BakingInspiration
Sourdough Pretzelsformula quantities
45-minute rest
12 pretzel yield
350°F (177°C) bake
Cited in: A modern use for starter removed at feeding; Keep the two pretzel methods separate
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionSafety
Raw Flour and Doughraw flour may contain pathogens; cook flour mixtures and clean after handling
King Arthur BakingHistory · Method
Make pretzels from your discard starterPJ Hamel described a sourdough discard pretzel as a way to use starter removed during feeding in 2011; this is a modern adaptation.
The 2011 development account explains that the sweet wash helps browning and reports uneven, blotchy results in the author's baking-soda trials; this is that author's recipe-development experience, not a universal failure of alkaline baths.
Cited in: A modern use for starter removed at feeding
Encyclopedia of Greater PhiladelphiaHistory · Geography · Cultural use · Variations
PretzelsThe article documents Pennsylvania Dutch and Philadelphia soft-pretzel traditions, historical depictions, the Sturgis family commercial bakery founded in 1861, later machinery, and local shape and serving practices. Its much earlier origin story is presented as received legend, not firm evidence.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Penn State UniversityHistory · Geography · Cultural use
Bretzel? or Pretzel?The article discusses German immigrant baker Adolph Benzel and his Altoona pretzel bakery founded in 1911, illustrating Pennsylvania's regional baking history.
King Arthur BakingTechnique · Science
YeastCommercial baker's yeast produces carbon dioxide and ethanol from fermentable sugars; gas is trapped by dough structure, while salt moderates fermentation.
Institute of Food Science & TechnologyTechnique · Science
Not all bubbles are equal: bread texture and the science of bakingMixing forms a gluten network and incorporates initial gas cells; fermentation expands those cells, and heating sets the crumb and crust.
American Society of BakingTechnique · Science
BakingDuring baking, starch gelatinizes and proteins denature as the crumb sets; browning occurs at the surface through non-enzymatic reactions.
King Arthur BakingDistinct method comparison
German-Style PretzelsSeparate ten-pretzel recipe uses a boiling baking-soda bath followed by 450°F baking; publisher says soda replaces the original lye bath. This distinguishes the related brezel recipe, not a substitution into the twelve-piece discard batch.
Cited in: Keep the two pretzel methods separate