German pretzel pastry. Pretzel rolls and pretzel bread sticks.

German Pretzel Pastries
These soft German pretzel pastries are very easy to make and have nothing in common with the store bought you will find in US supermarkets.
They are flavorful and have a wonderful texture and don´t remind to cardboard like the ones that you will often find in supermarkets.
And with just a few cents per piece you will save a lot of money on top to get a way better taste.
How are Soft Pretzel Rolls called in German?
Pretzel rolls are called "Laugenbrötchen". “Lauge” is the German word for “Lye”.
How to pronounce "Laugenbrötchen"?
Listen to this audio file to hear how to say "Laugenbrötchen" in German.
How to make German Soft Pretzel Buns Video Tutorial
Authentic German Pretzel Buns Recipe

German Pretzel Buns
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup + ⅓ cup warm water
- 5 tbsp. butter (melted)
- 1 tbsp. active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tsp. salt Kosher
- coarse salt to sprinkle on the rolls
- 8 cups water
- ½ cup baking soda
Instructions
- Add ⅓ cup of warm water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Mix to combine and let it sit for about 10 minutes until foamy.
- Melt butter in remaining warm water, add to the yeast mixture, and mix well.
- Mix salt with flour and add to the bowl 1 cup at a time.
- Knead until smooth dough forms.
- Cover the bowl with clean dish towel and let dough rise for 1 hour.
- Divide it into 10 equal pieces.
- Shape the pieces into smooth rolls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Cover the rolls with damp dish towel and let the rolls rest for about 20-30 minutes.
- Cover the rolls and let them rest for about 30 minutes or until they have doubled in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- Fill a large pot ⅔ with water and heat to boiling.
- Once the water boils, add the baking soda slowly to the water.
- With a slotted spoon add 1 roll at a time into the water bath. Turn after 10 seconds for about 5 more seconds.
- If the roll does not float, leave in for 15 seconds total.
- Remove, place the rolls back on the baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the rolls.
- Use a sharp knife to make a shallow cut on the rolls in the shape of a cross.
- Sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake rolls for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.
Nutrition
Serving Tip
German pretzel rolls are so tasty and flavorful that you can eat them just as is. But they are also wonderful for all kinds of sandwiches and German inspired hamburgers.
Nicole says
Your video say to add milk (and butter) to boiling water yet yet there is no milk in the ingredients and no mention of boiling water, adding milk and butter in the instructions.
Then is says to mix all dry ingredients followed by adding liquids. The written instructions are different for the yeast.
In the video you say bake at 350 F, the written instructions say 425F, that is not even close in temp.
I wanted to try these, the pictures look good but now I don’t know how/where to start now.
Angela Schofield says
Hi Nicole, I embedded the video for a pretzel roll recipe in the post, but replaced it now for the video for pretzel buns. Sorry for the confusion and thank you so much for catching that.