The original pretzel began as soft dough during medieval Europe with the hard crispy pretzels coming up around 1860’s, taking the world by storm, but what’s the difference? In this article we’ll cover how hard pretzels are made versus soft pretzels, and the evolution of the hard pretzel into the snack it is today.
The hard pretzel allegedly came in 1861 from Julius Sturgis, the owner of one of the first commercial pretzel bakeries based in Pennsylvania. Sturgis was concerned about the shelf life of soft pretzels, so he decided to reduce the amount of water and increased the baking time in his recipe and created the first hard pretzel, at least the first intentional hard pretzel.
Besides the more obvious differences between hard and soft pretzels like one being hard and the other being soft, hard pretzels are generally more versatile than soft pretzels. With more types of seasoning from simply salt to bourbon bacon, all kinds of shapes and sizes, it's easier to find more variety in hard pretzels compared to soft ones.
We hope you found this comparison between the hard and soft pretzel insightful on the histories of these two famous snacks! At pretzels.com we provide gourmet pretzels from sweet to salty and everything in between. With over 40 flavors baked in micro batches that we continuously are adding to, we are dedicated to providing the perfect pretzels for your own cravings or for others and events. Come view all our gourmet flavors and find the right one for you today!
