German Soft Pretzels (Laugenbrezel)
I wish you could smell these right now…
Oktoberfest is here, which means that we need a really yummy soft pretzel recipe to go with all the beer we are planning on drinking, right?
If that applies to you, you’re lucky, my friend! Because these German Soft Pretzels, or Laugenbrezel (if you wanna sound fancy and impress your friends), are so delicious that you might even forget to drink the beer.
Ha! Just kidding! ?
Who would do that? ?❤️?
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival. It is held annually in Munich and it lasts 16 days! (Holy Beer!)
More than 6 million people from all over the world attend the festival, which usually happens from mid September to the first weekend in October.
The first Oktoberfest took place from Oct 12-17 in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The five day celebration toasted the royal couple and ended with a horse race in the town square. Since that first celebration, festivities were held every year to commemorate the royal marriage. By 1896, the first beer tents were erected, featuring beverages from local Munich breweries to celebrate the regional drink.
Nowadays, several other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the original event. I mean, because who doesn’t wanna drink a ton of beer and eat delicious German food?
Take pretzels, for example.
These dark brown, crispy (yet soft inside), salty little guys are the perfect sidekick for an ice cold beer! Add a side of honey mustard or butter and I’m in heaven.
There are several accounts on the origin of pretzels. Some credit them to European monks, others say it was invented in a monastery in South France and there’s even those who believe it is a variation of a Greek ring bread. However, the Laugenbrezel – the German version of pretzels – is credited to the Bavarians. Legend says that on the morning of February 11, 1839, Anton Nepomuk Pfanenbrenner, the baker for the Munich Royal Café, while preparing some sweet pretzels for his guests, accidentally used the Natronlauge (which is the sodium hydroxide solution that they used to clean the bakery countertops) to brush the pretzels instead of sugar-water. He decided to bake the pretzels anyway and was impressed with the unique brown crust, soft center and delicious taste. *major drool*
As you’ll notice in the recipe below, I chose to not do the Natronlauge because of safety. Honestly, I even ordered the stuff from Amazon, but ended up calling them to cancel because not only I am VERY accident prone, I couldn’t possibly sleep peacefully knowing that I posted something on my blog that could get someone hurt.
But do not fret! A baking soda solution is a fine substitute and you won’t risk hurting yourself.
“But, do I really need to do the boiling in baking soda solution step?”
Yes, please! Do not skip it! That step only takes a few minutes and it’s what makes these pretzels out of this world good!
The alkali solution made with baking soda and water (plus beer and brown sugar for extra flavor), is what causes the pretzel to “puff” and get all soft and nice inside. It also gives them their distinctive flavor and dark brown color.
If you skip this part, your pretzel will have a different flavor and texture. Quite frankly, it won’t be a pretzel!
Also, do try to use the Barley malt syrup because it adds this amazing subtle yet complex flavor that is so characteristic to pretzels! (If you cannot get your hands on one, substitute for brown sugar).
As for the Pretzel salt, you can find it on Amazon. Or you can just substitute it for kosher salt!
Now, pass me that honey mustard cause I just took 12 pretzels out of the oven and I can’t possibly wait any longer to devour them.
Cheers! ?
German Soft Pretzels (Laugenbrezel)
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 (1/4 ounce) packages rapid-rise yeast
- 2 tablespoons Barley Malt Syrup
- 6 1/2 cups bread flour
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup pale ale beer
- Pretzel salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Notes
(Recipe slightly adapted from NYC Sigmund Pretzelshop's version.)
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25 Comments on “German Soft Pretzels (Laugenbrezel)”
these look delicious Olivia! I don’t drink alcohol but I would be more than happy to eat these pretzels! yum!
WOW! We are going to Summer, here in Brazil, but it’s a perfect apetizer with a regular beer too!
Yay for Oktoberfest! I am so in love with these gorgeous looking pretzels! Would go so well with beer pitcher! :)
Your pretzels look so delicious…I am ready for Oktoberfest! I could go for one of these and a beer right now! As you know you are featured tonight on #FoodieFriDIY (fun chatting on twitter earlier!) …I sent tons of foodie love your way!
Looks tasty although it’s funny that this doesn’t have draino in it like autentic German recipes. Also, i have no idea where one gets barley malt syrup or even what it is. Is there a substitute?
Looks good. What is Barley Malt Syrup and can I make this without that?
The article tells you that NOT using it changes the flavor… Google it: I discovered that I can get it at Whole Foods here (near philadlephia) AND I grew up in Lancaster and I can tell you that a real soft pretzel DOES have a delicate;ly distinct taste that you can only get from that barley malt syrup….
These will come out much better if you use the traditional Lye to dip them in. I personally don’t use rubber gloves but I am very carreful and don’t let others in the kitchen when I am making them.
‘ Ja Da haust di nieder :)) ‘ Bavarian
‘ I can hardly believe this’
I was born and raised in Munich, now working in DaNang , Vietnam for the last 3 years. Been thinking about Pretzen, for two weeks . I will try to get the ingreduences and bake. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Thanks for a very yummy website .
How many carbs in one of these giants pretzels?– I hope to make smaller ones… I’m going to buy the barley malt syrup first thing tomorrow morning.
These came out amazing.
I substituted Black Strap Molasses for the Barley Malt Syrup and doubled the beer amount in the boiling solution (to 1 full cup).
I also made some pretzel bites with this same recipe. I made 1.25”-1.5” balls which I baked for about 10-12 minutes per batch, rotating them at the 5 minute mark. They came out nice and soft inside and are perfect for dipping.
The baking soda solution worked out just fine to get that great pretzel crust.
Thanks so much for the great recipe!!
So I have been reading this recipe tonight to a friend who is a German living in the US (talking about making authentic pretzels) and my husband, who is a food chemist. The interesting point of this whole recipe, is the wash made of sodium hydroxide. The danger of it was strongly pushed by the husband. He could get it for me from his lab (it’s used to neutralize acids), but he strongly pushes that baking soda can give the same end result, and is much safer. Our German friend is interested to see if this will give the same result, so I will be trying it soon. But it sounds like you made a good call in not using the sodium hydroxide.
So how did you go with the baking soda? As a German living abroad, generally if I want Laugenbrezeln I have to bake them myself. I do so frequently, and have found a genuine difference between using actual ‘Lauge’ (caustic soda/sodium hydroxide – which is added to room temperature water, never boiling water) and baking soda. The Lauge gives a glossy finish and a depth of flavour that I haven’t been able to replicate with baking soda, which tends to taste not much different to normal bread, while the crust has a duller finish and is not very chewy. Then again, I have never heard of putting beer and brown sugar in the soaking solution. I’d be interested in your German friend’s assessment! :-)
To increase the alkali content of the baking soda, just bake it at 250 degrees for an hour. You can do this ahead of time. It will act more like lye, but isn’t as scary to use!
I made this recipe for the first time yesterday for my Oktoberfest party. I had another recipe to use from previous gatherings but could not find it so this one was very similar to that one. I made a double batch of dough Because hey it’s pretzels and nobody can resist them. Well they all went! I had 24 people and they all loved them! I had to print a few copies and hand out to a few that asked for the recipe. I definitely will be making these again!
My only question is … is there a better way to prepare the baking pans so they don’t stick? I used parchment paper and greased them generously but they still stuck
Hi Rosemarie,
I’m so glad your guests loved them!
As for the sticking, I’ve heard of some people letting the wet pretzels hang in a cooling rack for a few minutes before transferring to the greased parchment paper. Maybe that would help? Let me know if you try it and if that works for you. I’ll also make sure to update the post with more info if I learn something new!
Hi Olivia! I did make them again this past weekend. Sorry I only saw your response now. I just greased my baking sheet really well and it was much better. I also used my spider when taking them out of the water bath and dabbed onto a towel then onto the baking sheet. No problems with sticking. Yes that probably would also help to let them drip off. I assumed that they had to go into the oven right away and not sit. Lesson learned :)
Also, I totally forgot I posted my review the first time and did another one! Silly me!
Hi Rosemarie, I make pretzels a few times a year. and also pretzel dogs. I use a silpat, and they don’t stick at all. good luck!!
I just made this recipe, followed every instruction to a T. These preztls turned out picture perfect.. unfortunatley way to salty.. 2 tbsp is too much. I’ll cut it in half the next time.
These look wonderful and I’ll be trying them this week. I would like to bring them to our bake sale at work and am wondering the best way to accomplish this. Freezing seems to be a popular option but in what and would Incool them first? Could I pull them out morning of and take them in ziplocs or paper bags and have people warm them up in the toaster oven? Thank you for any tips that will help accomplish this !
You have to do the lye version or you’re really missing what makes these special! Take time to study it all out, but it’s totally worth it in the taste and texture.
For those of you looking for a “substitute” for barley malt syrup, look for unhopped liquid malt extract (used for brewing). It’s pretty much exactly the same thing, although lighter colors may have some other grains in them. I usually go for the amber. It’s also typically sold in 3 pound containers for roughly the same price as a 16oz. bottle at a specialty food store. Check your local or online home-brew supplier – it’s the main ingredient in beer, so they’ll all have it.
That’s great info! Thanks for sharing, Brent.
These are good but they’d be even better using the lye water bath. These miss that something that the lye gives as far as flavor. I have never had a problem using lye. It is quite safe, I suggest using only the dry lye not the liquid the amount you use in the water is well diluted. It was safe enough for us to use in school when I was in 6th grade home economics class in 1960’s. A pair of gloves is suggested but I don’t even bother as I don’t put my hand in it and if I do I just rinse it off. I keep some white vinegar out when I make it just in case any does get on my skin, it completely renders it harmless.
Really great recipe. Made it many times! For anyone wanting to know where to get malt syrup just go to your local home brew shop. They’ll hook you up with really nice malt syrup. You can even play with different types for different flavour profiles.