Soft Pretzels Lab173 recipes
← Soft Pretzels Lab

What goes into soft pretzels

The main ingredient list of all 173 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most soft pretzel recipes use butter (71%); 10% use oil.
  • For sugar, 53% use white sugar alone, 18% brown sugar alone, and 16% no sugar at all.
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 40% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 33% active dry yeast, and 15% fresh yeast.
  • For the liquid, 72% use water alone, 21% water and milk together, and 5% milk alone.
  • 7% add cheese, herbs or other savory; 92% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 500 g of flour, the size of a typical batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

  • Butter only

    median 44 g fat · closest to typical: Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe (crazyforcrust.com)

    68%118 recipes

  • No butter, oil or shortening

    closest to typical: Homemade Pretzel Bites (iambaker.net)

    20%36 recipes

  • Oil only

    median 26 g fat · closest to typical: Soft Pretzels (bettycrocker.com)

    8%14 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%5 recipes

Oil includes olive oil (1%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

  • White sugar only

    median 11 g sugar · closest to typical: Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe (crazyforcrust.com)

    53%93 recipes

  • Brown sugar only

    median 23 g sugar · closest to typical: Pretzel Bites (preppykitchen.com)

    18%32 recipes

  • No sugar

    closest to typical: Bretzels (cuisine.journaldesfemmes.fr)

    16%29 recipes

  • With honey or barley malt

    median 24 g sugar · closest to typical: Stuffed Pretzel Bites (kingarthurbaking.com)

    10%19 recipes

"With honey or barley malt" means any liquid sweetener (honey, barley malt, maple syrup and other syrup), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 163 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

Rapid-rise, quick-rise and bread machine yeast count as instant.

Water, milk or something richer

Each recipe counted once, by the liquids in its main ingredient list.

  • Water only

    median 316 g liquid · closest to typical: Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe (crazyforcrust.com)

    72%126 recipes

  • Water and milk

    median 314 g liquid · closest to typical: Brezeln und Obatzter (bettybossi.ch)

    21%38 recipes

  • Milk only

    median 300 g liquid · closest to typical: Laugengebäck (backenmitchristina.at)

    5%9 recipes

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 92% add none of these.

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory7%

    cheese 4% · bacon or meat 1% · jalapeño or chile 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 173 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    173 recipes · median 8 g

  2. Water94%

    164 recipes · median 311 g

  3. Yeast94%

    163 recipes · median 7 g

  4. All-purpose flour83%

    145 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Butter71%

    123 recipes · median 45 g

  6. Granulated sugar55%

    96 recipes · median 11 g

  7. Milk27%

    47 recipes · median 209 g

  8. Brown sugar18%

    32 recipes · median 23 g

  9. Bread flour16%

    28 recipes · median: all of the flour

  10. Eggs9%

    17 recipes · median 50 g (about 1 large egg)

  11. Vegetable oil9%

    17 recipes · median 24 g

  12. Sourdough starter9%

    16 recipes · median 139 g

  13. Baking soda5%

    9 recipes · median 91 g

  14. Honey5%

    9 recipes · median 38 g

Toppings and extras

94% of recipes (163 of 173) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Baking soda81% (141)
  • Water63% (109)
  • Salt45% (78)
  • Eggs23% (40)
  • Butter17% (30)
  • Candy or cookies15% (27)
  • Egg yolks15% (27)
  • Cheese6% (12)
  • Seeds6% (11)
  • Granulated sugar4% (8)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out. Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.