Can You Freeze Pretzels?

by Charlie

Pretzels are usually soft when they are just pulled out of the oven. But in a few hours, they can get hard and chewy. Do you make pretzels as part of your Thanksgiving dish? 

Pretzels are the family’s special. However, you just can’t make them on Thanksgiving. If you make them a few hours before, or the night before, it would get stale or soggy. You might have been seeing some at the convenience store, it’s usually frozen. You wonder how they do that. So, this brings up a question.

Can you freeze pretzels? Yes, you can. Freezing your pretzels fresh makes them soft and fresh to eat after you reheat them. Frozen pretzels can last for up to 12 months and still retain their quality and flavor.

Freezing grants you the opportunity of having soft pretzels on the go!

Pretzels can be frozen in different ways. You can experiment to find out what manner of freezing suits you best. The different modes of freezing determine how you thaw and reheat. It can also determine how your pretzels taste or feel after reheating.

How to Freeze Pretzels

Freezing is all about increasing the shelf life of items. Pretzels are part of the crust bearing family. Meaning that you would be fighting a lot of bread physics here. There are various ways of freezing pretzels.

Method 1: Raw

One way to freeze Pretzels is to freeze the boiled raw dough. You mix the dough with yeast added and then boil for a few seconds. After boiling, you will obtain that desired ball shape. 

Get your airtight freezer bags ready, and place the raw dough into them. Make sure you remove excess air from the bag. This might make your pretzels come out a little bit squished but, it preserves it and leaves it fresh till when you want to eat them.

Method 2: Halfway Baked

Another way you can freeze your pretzels is to follow the recipe but only bake for about half the actual baking time. While it is half baked, you pull the pretzels out of the oven and let them cool down to room temperature. Do not let it get cold or stay put for too long. Else it would get stale. You need to let the pretzels cool before attempting to store them to prevent condensation. Condensation would increase moisture and make the pretzels stale. 

After cooling, you can wrap it in plastic wrap twice and then finish up using aluminum foil. You can also use freezer bags or vacuum seal bags. But you must make sure you remove excess air from the bag before freezing.

Method 3: Fully Baked

This is the most common way people freeze Pretzels. All you need to do is follow the entire recipe and fully bake. When the pretzels are ready for consumption, let them cool down to touch. You can then wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. 

Your pretzels would keep in the freezer for about 12 months, as all foods frozen at 0° are good indefinitely. But, it would be great if you consume the pretzels before then.

How Do You Defrost Frozen Pretzels?

The manner of freezing determines how you defrost. If you had the pretzels frozen raw and boiled, set your oven to 450°F. Bake for about 10 minutes. The frozen pretzels would cook all the way through and start to look brown. The texture of your pretzels might be denser than the other remaining types of freezing methods. This is because the yeast was not given time to rise properly.

If you had frozen your pretzels the half baked way, remove the pretzels from the freezer. Place them on a cooking sheet in your oven. You’re going to heat the pretzels for twice the amount of time remaining for it to get done. Which is about 10 minutes. Heating thoroughly is important so that the middle of the pretzel does not remain frozen while the surface looks all crusty and done.

If you have frozen your pretzels while it has been fully baked, put them into the oven on a cookie sheet. Reheat at 450°F for five minutes. This method cooks the pretzels all the way through and seems to hold the salt better than other methods.

How Do You Freeze Pretzel Dough?

If you were wondering, you can freeze pretzel dough without boiling and store it for later use. After making the dough, freeze it in an airtight freezer container and make sure to get all the excess air out. It would last for about 3 months. 

When you need to make some pretzels, bring the dough out of the freezer to thaw overnight in the fridge. Let the refrigerated dough puff a little more before you add it to the baking soda bath.

How Do You Know If Your Pretzel Is Stale?

Stale Pretzels are characterized by mold. The Pretzel will also develop an offensive odor together with an off appearance. That’s what tells you that a pretzel is stale.

Are Stale Pretzels Bad For You?

We preserve our food so it doesn’t go bad. But if your pretzel went bad without your knowledge and you took a bite from it, it won’t harm you. However, do not make it a habit to continuously eat stale food.

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