One of my very favorite things in the world might be soft pretzels, particularly when they’re soft and homemade. I also love eating burgers on pretzel buns except for one thing that is always wrong…they have no salt! How can that even be? Pretzels have to have salt.
Ingredients and what they contribute to the recipe:
- All purpose flour
- Saf Instant Premium yeast. Using a high-quality yeast is critical for doing cold fermentations because they can sometimes be abusive and you need a yeast that really comes back after being kept cold
- Diastatic Malt powder for flavor
- Sourdough starter for flavor
- Oil for a softer texture
- Buttermilk powder for soft texture and flavor
- Sodium hydroxide (lye) is what gives pretzels the perfect slick, brown exterior. You can use baking soda but it doesn’t have the same taste of texture. It’s a very dilute lye bath.
- Pretzel salt. Because pretzels have salt!
Instructions:
- Mix ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes
- Add to a well-oiled bag and refrigerate for 24 hours to 4 days
- Remove from refrigerator and allow dough to come to room temperature
- Form into 6 large buns or 8 smaller buns
Then…
Allow to rise until doubled in size. This should take 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
Prepare your waterbath. It’s 10 cups of water to 1/2 cup lye. Add the lye to the water cold then bring water up to a low boil. Dip each bun in the water but not too quickly so as to not bring the water temperature too low.
Score the tops deeply with a bread lame and salt the tops.
And bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 18-20 minutes until internal temperature reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Aren’t they beautiful? Now make yourself some burgers.
With some delicious toppings.
Best pretzel buns I’ve ever had!
If you like this recipe you’ll also like:
Soft Sourdough Pretzel Buns
Ingredients
- 5 cups tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 teaspoons table salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons yeast
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
- 1 teaspoon diastatic malt powder optional
- ¼ cup sourdough starter
- Pretzel salt
Water bath
- 10 cups water
- ½ cup lye
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes
- Add to a well-oiled bag and refrigerate for 24 hours to 4 days
- Remove from refrigerator and allow dough to come to room temperature
- Form into 6 large buns or 8 smaller buns
- Allow to rise until doubled in size. This should take 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
- Prepare waterbath. 10 cups of water to 1/2 cup lye. Add the lye to the water cold then bring water up to a low boil. Dip each bun in the water but not too quickly so as to not bring the water temperature too low.
- Score the tops deeply with a bread lame and salt the tops.
- Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 18-20 minutes until internal temperature reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
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