authentic pretzel recipe

These pretzels are GOLD! Make authentic German soft Brezeln with confidence that taste just like from a German bakery and will impress everyone! They use real lye and that is NOTHING to be scared of!

Homemade Soft German Pretzels (Brezeln)

all-purpose flour

brown sugar

butter (room temperature)

sea salt

active dry yeast (½ pouch)

water (luke warm)

food-grade lye

water (COLD water)

pretzel salt

Yeast

Stir together the Luke warm (barely warm) water, brown sugar and yeast and allow to bubble up, this should take 5 minutes. If it&#39;s not getting bubbly, your water may have been too hot or your yeast is bad. You&#39;ll have to repeat this step.

Knead

Sift together the flour and salt, and add in the butter and the bubbly yeast mixture. Knead the dough on the low setting for 8 to 10 minutes using the dough hook.

Divide

Cover the dough with a piece of wax paper (or a clean linen towel) and let it rest for 5 minutes. This is to help prevent a skin from forming. Start weighing out 80 gram (2.8 ounces) pieces of dough. Alternatively, if you don&#39;t have a kitchen scale, you could shape the dough into a long, even thickness log and divide into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into little hot dog bun shapes. Let them cuddle against each other and cover them with wax paper (or a clean linen towel) to again prevent a skin from developing on the surface of the dough. No need to let them rest.

Shape

Now it’s time to shape your pretzels. I recorded a short video for you for this step. No flouring the surface is needed. In fact, if your hands ever get to dry, keep some olive oil close to oil your hands with. You will have both hands on hot dog bun shaped pretzel dough with the long side horizontal towards your body. You will start pulling dough with your thumbs towards the ends of the dough piece, making the ends tapered, while keeping a bigger “belly” in the middle of the dough piece, about 2.5 feet in length (75 cm). You will then cross over the ends at the middle and attach them to the belly. Make sure you stretch them out a little bit before you let them rest. It’s probably best to just watch the video on this one!

Rest

Transfer the pretzels on sheets of wax paper or silicone baking mats, cover with a clean linen towel, and let them rest and develop for about 30 minutes. Then stretch each pretzel out a little more after the dough has relaxed. Refrigerate or freeze them for 30 minutes (I freeze mine). This makes them a lot easier to handle and won’t make them stick to the wax paper when removing them to dip them into the lye solution.

Prepare your lye solution in a well-ventilated area (like standing under a vent hood set to high or ideally being outside) because of potential fumes. I also recommend wearing a cloth or medical grade face mask and rubber gloves to be extra safe (luckily everyone should have these at home by now). Add the premeasured lye (it comes in dry granules) into COLD water, not the over way around. At this point, I like to step to the side for about 10 to 15 seconds to let potential fumes evaporate. Then carefully combine with a whisk until the solution is clear. Now dip the par-frozen pretzels using a steel skimmer (you could also use two forks) for 5 to 10 seconds each before transferring them using your skimmer onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (I have found the baking mats work better in releasing the pretzels after baking, so it may be time to invest in some). 

Sprinkle

You can cut the &#39;belly&#39; or the fat part of the pretzels to let them intentionally expand there. In Bavaria however, you will allow your pretzels to crack open wherever they wish and NOT make a cut. To make your cut, take a small, sharp knife and cut along the belly to enable it to rise during the baking. Then sprinkle with the pretzel salt (some people only like their bellies sprinkled, but you can sprinkle the whole pretzel). You could also add shredded cheese or seeds onto the pretzels instead of the pretzel salt (if adding seeds, I like to dip the pretzel in the seeds instead of sprinkling them on). Pumpkin seeds are my favorite seeds to add.

Bake

Bake at 355° Fahrenheit or 180° Celsius (convection/Umluft setting) for about 12 minutes or until golden brown (I like to rotate them after 6 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before enjoying on their own, with butter or Obatzda, a Bavarian cheese spread that I love so much!

Authentic pretzel buns are a variation of my super popular authentic German pretzels, but shaped like rolls instead. These quick, soft pretzel rolls made with lye are perfect as dinner rolls, for pretzel sandwiches or pretzel burgers, and can be made into pretzel hot dog buns as well. I know you’ll love them as they give you that authentic Laugenbrötchen taste just like from a German bakery!

Homemade Soft German Pretzel Buns (Laugenbrötchen)

active dry yeast (1 pouch)

Cover the dough with a piece of wax paper (or a clean linen towel) and let it rest for 5 minutes. This is to help prevent a skin from forming. Start weighing out 100 gram (3.5 ounces) pieces of dough. Alternatively, if you don&#39;t have a kitchen scale, you could shape the dough into a long, even thickness log and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into little ball shapes.

Transfer the pretzel buns onto sheets of wax paper or silicone baking mats, cover with a clean linen towel, and let them rest and develop for about 60 minutes.

Prepare your lye solution in a well-ventilated area (like standing under a vent hood set to high or ideally being outside) because of potential fumes. I also recommend wearing a cloth or medical grade face mask and rubber gloves to be extra safe (luckily everyone should have these at home by now). Add the premeasured lye (it comes in dry granules) into COLD water, not the over way around. At this point, I like to step to the side for about 10 to 15 seconds to let potential fumes evaporate. Then carefully combine with a whisk until the solution is clear. Now dip the pretzel buns using a steel skimmer (you could also use two large spoons) for 5 to 10 seconds each before transferring them using your skimmer onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (I have found the baking mats work better in releasing the pretzel rolls after baking, so it may be time to invest in some). 

Take a small, sharp knife and cut an X on the top of each roll to enable it to rise during the baking. Then sprinkle with the pretzel salt.

We made today with the food grade lye and they turned out amazingly. Beautiful brown color and so tasty!!  Thank you.

Very tasty. 

Boiled mine a little longer (15-20 seconds which I what I normally do for pretzels) ...not sure if it makes a difference. 

Quick question: Is there a reason to bake at 355 instead of 375? 

Mine came out golden but took an extra few minutes.

Definitely going to make again.

Hallo Sophie!  What a fantastic and easy recipe!  I have made both the round and hot dog buns and they have turned out great.  My family loves them!  Also, I am baking multiple batches and then immediately after they cool, I put them in a ziplock and freeze them.  On the day you want to have more, I let them thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes and then bake them in the oven at 375F for 8-10 minutes.  They taste like fresh baked.  Vielen Dank for all of your wonderful recipes!

Patrick

Loved this recipe!!! One question, if I want to make them ahead of time, instead of freezing them can I put them in the fridge overnight and bake the next day? If that is possible would I dip them in the key then fridge them? TIA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRuEtnXFJFw

Pretzel buns (Laugenbrötchen) recipe is now on the blog 😍🥨 #pretzels

Authentic pretzel buns for hot dogs and bratwurst are a variation of my super popular authentic German pretzels, but shaped like long buns instead. Called &#039;Laugenstangen&#039; (lye sticks) in German, they are super soft and fluffy on the inside and taste just like from a really good German bakery.They are surprisingly easy to make, following the simple steps in my recipe. This authentic German pretzel hot dog bun recipe is based on my popular soft pretzel recipe, using real lye (but that&#039;s nothing to be afraid of!). I have no doubt that these will be the best tasting pretzel hot dog buns you&#039;ve ever had and I can&#039;t wait for you to try them!

Homemade Pretzel Buns for Hot Dogs (Laugenstangen)

granulated sugar (You can use white

Stir together the Luke warm (barely warm) water, sugar and yeast and allow to bubble up, this should take 5 minutes. If it&#39;s not getting bubbly, your water may have been too hot or your yeast is bad. You&#39;ll have to repeat this step.

Cover the dough with a piece of wax paper (or a clean linen towel) and let it rest for 5 minutes. This is to help prevent a skin from forming. Shape the dough into a long, even thickness log and divide into 8 equal pieces (see photo). Shape each piece of dough into little ball shapes first, and then into logs (about 10 in or 25 cm in length).

Transfer the pretzel hot dog buns onto sheets of wax paper or silicone baking mats, cover with a clean linen towel, and let them rest and develop in a warm spot for about 60 minutes. I recommend using two baking mats and spreading them out. They stick to parchment paper A LOT, so I do not recommend placing them on parchment paper to let them rise OR to bake them.

Prepare your lye solution in a well-ventilated area (like standing under a vent hood set to high or ideally being outside) because of potential fumes. I also recommend wearing a cloth or medical grade face mask and rubber gloves to be extra safe. Add the premeasured lye (it comes in dry granules) into COLD water, not the over way around. At this point, I like to step to the side for about 10 to 15 seconds to let potential fumes evaporate. Then carefully combine with a whisk until the solution is clear.Now dip the pretzel hot dog buns using a steel skimmer (you could also use two large spoons) for 5 to 10 seconds each before transferring them using your skimmer onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (I have found the baking mats work better in releasing the pretzel rolls after baking, so it may be time to invest in some).Your pretzel buns will likely deflate during the dipping process, which is totally fine. They will end up looking just fine when they come out of the oven.

Take a small, sharp knife and cut 3 diagonal slits on the top of each hot dog bun to enable it to rise during the baking. Then sprinkle with the pretzel salt.

Bake at 355° Fahrenheit or 180° Celsius (convection/Umluft setting) for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. I like to rotate them after 6 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing open longways and stuffing with grilled bratwurst, hot dogs or using them as sandwich buns.

Hi Sophie, this recipe was excellent, thank you! I live in Australia and miss my German family and the food, I was craving Laugenstangen and came across this recipe online! I used baking soda wash instead and it was a great substitute- thank you for sharing!

one more thing I forgot to mention. I used your "par freezing" method from your pretzel recipe. The dough did not collapse as a result. (freeze dough for 30 min before lye bath).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMNRywvysYU

Recipe: https://dirndlkitchen.com/pretzel-buns-hot-dogs-bratwurst/
Homemade pretzel buns for hot dogs are long pretzel buns that are perfect for grilled bratwurst, hot dogs or to use as a sandwich roll. Called 'Laugenstangen' (lye sticks) in German, they are super soft and fluffy on the inside and taste just like from a really good German bakery. They are surprisingly easy to make, following the simple steps in this recipe.

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