Jennifer Smart

How to Make an Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzel

Introduction:
Attention-getter: Show video of me making a pretzel. “That was me, making an Auntie
Anne’s pretzel.”
Reason to Listen: I’m sure you have all seen an Auntie Anne’s store at your mall, and
maybe even eaten one of their pretzels. But do you know exactly how this pretzel is
made?
Establish credibility: Well, I can tell you how these pretzels are made. You can trust me
because not only have I worked at Auntie Anne’s for over a year, I have read their
Playbook, and have had discussions with my store manager and corporate headquarters
on the topic of making pretzel.
Purpose: What I hope to achieve giving this speech is for you guys to know the basics of
making an Auntie Anne’s pretzel.
Forecasting Development: I will be talking to you about the dough used in making an
Auntie Anne’s pretzel, the forming of the pretzel, and the baking of the pretzel.
I. The first step in making a pretzel is “Preparing the Dough”.
A. First, you gather the water, the yeast, and the original batch of pretzel
dough.
1. You need 6 ¾ cups of water that is at 105 degrees temperature.
1. The water goes in the mixer first.
2. You need to use ¼ cup of dry active yeast.
1. The yeast goes into the mixer second.
2. The water and yeast sits in the mixer for two minutes,
giving the yeast time to activate.
3. Lastly, you put in the prepackaged dough.
1. Due to the fact that if I give away the secret of the pretzel
dough I will be fired from my job, and the fact that the
dough is so “top secret” that I do not even know what is in
it, I cannot disclose to you what ingredients are in the
dough.
B. Using a mixer, you mix the dough for 3 ½ to 4 minutes.
1. If the dough is not fully mixed after the allotted time, you mix it
for thirty more seconds.
1. You can tell if a dough is not fully mixed if you can still
see particles of dough or yeast in the dough.
C. You prepare the dough to rise.
1. The dough goes on top of the oven for fifteen minutes to begin
the rising process.
1. If the dough is left on the oven for too long, it will begin to
smell too yeasty and will be sticky, causing it to be difficult
to roll.
2. The dough is taken off the oven for 45 minutes to finish rising.
1. The dough is fully risen if it looks big and fluffy, or as we
liked to call it at Auntie Anne’s, if it looks like a “Happy
 dough.”. A happy dough is big and fat.
2. If the dough doesn’t rise it will taste bland and will be
difficult to roll.
II. The second step in making a pretzel is “Forming the pretzel.”
A. You cut, stretch, roll, and twist your dough!
1. Cut a piece of dough that is 8” long, 1 ½” wide. Simply pull the
dough gently, and then briefly roll it until it is 42” long and ½”
wide.
1. At Auntie Anne’s, there is an inlay on the counter that
teaches employees what the pretzel should look like!
2. If a pretzel has lines in it, also called “splits,” this is good!
It means you did not over-roll the pretzel. An over-rolled
pretzel does not taste as good as a pretzel perfect pretzel.
2. The twist is the hardest part in making a pretzel. You take both
end of the pretzel and hold them up, with the rest of the pretzel
sagging below. You then take your right hand and twist the
dough in that hand around the left hand and its dough. Then press
the two ends into the circular bottom. Sounds easy, but it really
isn’t in the beginning!
1. Analogy used by Auntie Anne’s “One hand is a pole and
the other is a rope Flick your wrist to lasso the pole with
the rope.”
3. The pretzel must have three distinct holes in it, two on each side,
and a smaller one in the middle.
1. To make these holes, simply inch the ends of the pretzel 2”
apart from each other at the bottom of the pretzel.
B. The pretzel is dipped in a dipping solution to gain it’s golden brown color.
1. You dip the pretzels in the dipping solution, which is made from
8 cups of hot water (no specific temperature) and one cup of
baking soda.
2. You pinch, immerse, release, and blot.
1. Pinch- you pinch the toes of your pretzel (which are the
ends) to hold the pretzel together.
2. Immerse- You immerse the pretzel in the dipping solution.
3. Release- You release the pretzel in the dipping solution so
the pretzel does not having light patches on it that come
from your fingerprints.
4. Blot- You blot the back of the pretzel on a towel before
putting it on the baking tray so that there is no webbing on
the cooked pretzel.
a. Webbing tastes bitter.
III. The last step in making a pretzel is the “Baking of the pretzel.”
A. You put the pretzel in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
1. The oven temperature is set somewhere between 575 and 625
degrees.
2. After 2-3 minutes of being in the oven, the pretzels will start
 changing color. You will then rotate the tray around in the oven
to cook to other side.
3. When the pretzel is golden brown you take it out of the oven!
1. Golden brown is categorized as a darker shade of brown.
B. The last step in the baking of a pretzel is putting butter on the pretzel!
1. You dip the front of the pretzel for 10 to 15 seconds in butter.
2. Let some of the butter drip off in the butter pan.
Conclusion:
Brakelight: After you dip your pretzel in butter, you are finished with the making of the
pretzel and move onto the selling (or eating!) of the pretzel. So in conclusion…
Main Points: You make a pretzel by preparing the dough, forming the actual pretzel, and
baking the pretzel!
Memorable Ending: After hearing this speech, you might think that making pretzels is
easy, however DO NOT BE FULLED! (show all of my burns/scars). When working
around hot ovens when you are busy, you often burn yourself!!!! So be careful if you
ever plan on making a pretzel!!!!