Are you looking for the perfect soft pretzel bites recipe? Look no further because these Homemade Sweet Potato Soft Pretzel Bites are a delicious, clean-eating wonder! Low in carbs and high in nutrition, they are so easy to prepare that you’ll want to make them over and over.
1 ½cupswhole wheat pastry flour,plus more as needed
1tablespooncoarse sea salt, as needed for topping
For the Baking Soda Bath:
3cupswater
3tablespoonbaking soda
For the Honey Mustard Dip:
¼cupplain greek yogurt
½cupyellow mustard
½cupraw honey
1 ½tablespoonfreshly squeezed lemon juice
For the Sweet Greek Yogurt Dip
⅓cupplain greek yogurt
1tbsp.pure maple syrup
¼tsp.vanilla extract
¼tsp.cinnamon
Instructions
To proof the yeast, in a large bowl, add warm water, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and sea salt, and stir this together until everything is dissolved.
Sprinkle active yeast over the top, and let it set for about 8-10 minutes or until the yeast turns frothy. This means the yeast is working and ready to go.
Into our proofed yeast bowl, add whole wheat pastry flour and mashed sweet potatoes. Carefully stir this together to get everything fully combined. If the dough is still very wet and sticky, you can continue to add in a little more whole wheat pastry flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl and no longer sticks to your hand.
Lay the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead for 3-5 minutes or until the dough springs back most of the way when you gently press it with your finger. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Divide the dough in half with a sharp knife or a kitchen scraper. Then, divide that half into half until you have 8 total small wedges.
Working with 1 wedge at a time, roll it into a skinny rope about 8-12 inches long.
To divide into pretzel bites, just press down to pinch off the bites using your knife or kitchen scraper every inch along the dough rope. Then, repeat with the remaining dough. Look to make the bites about 1 ½ - 2 inches long. (To form a pretzel, take the same rope, then cross the dough the top, then cross it again, and then bring the ends down over the bottom to shape the pretzel.)
Lay a clean, dry towel over the top of the shaped pretzels or pretzel bites, and allow to rise for about 20 minutes to increase in size.
Start preheating your oven to 425 degrees F, lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, and prepping your baking soda bath.
To prepare the baking soda bath, add 3 cups water plus 3 tablespoons baking soda to a small pot or deep skillet, and bring the water to a boil.
Once the pretzels bites have risen, carefully take a few and place them top-side down into the boiling baking soda bath. Boil for 12-15 seconds, carefully flipping using a slotted spoon halfway through.
Carefully transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet using slotted spatula, and then sprinkle with some coarse sea salt. Repeat with the remaining pretzels. (If you are making sweet potato pretzels instead of the pretzel bites, I recommend brushing the formed pretzels with the baking soda water instead of boiling it. While this process works for regular flours, the combination of the sweet potato and less refined flour makes it a little tricky to hold together when completely boiled and submerged in the water.)
Now, place the baking sheet into the oven and bake at 425°F for 7-9 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden brown and cooked through.
Remove the pretzels from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a dry wire rack to cool completely.
While the pretzels are cooling, we can make our honey mustard dipping sauce. In a small bowl, combine the plain Greek yogurt, clean yellow mustard, raw honey, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Whisk until this is very smooth.
If you want something a little sweeter and less tangy, instead you can make my sweet cinnamon greek yogurt dip by combining plain greek yogurt, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Both dips are great with these baked sweet potato pretzel bites, just either sweet or savory.
Notes
The sweet potato can be cooked from roasting, boiling, or steaming. I remove the skin for this recipe.