The Only Pretzel Rolls Recipe You'll Ever Need (Video) (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between bread dough and pretzel dough? ›

Soft pretzels are just a yeast bread is that formed into a pretzel shape. The one big difference in pretzel making, as opposed to a regular bread, is that pretzels are boiled and then baked. It is the boiling that gives the outside of the pretzel its beautiful golden brown color and uniquely crisp and chewy texture.

Lye-dipped pretzels, or in this case, pretzel buns, have a distinctive flavour that is both savoury and slightly bitter. The lye, a strong alkaline solution, is used to give the pretzels their characteristic dark brown colour and chewy exterior.

Boiling the dough causes it to instantly puff, creating a chewy interior and giving the exterior a head start on forming a crisp crust. The baking soda also produces pretzels with a deep golden brown and cracked appearance.

Like lye, baking soda is an alkaline substance, and when mixed with water and brushed over the pretzel dough, it changes the pH of the dough and gelates the surface starch. In the oven, the starch gel hardens and the alkaline baking soda makes browning happen fast.

Dough tends to shrink back on itself, so roll it out partway and then let it rest for a few minutes before rolling it the rest of the way.

Soft pretzels have a shorter baking time

Soft pretzels can usually be baked in 15 minutes; hard pretzels, meanwhile, must be baked for up to an hour. The longer baking time further dries out the pretzel. And, as we have discussed, the lack of moisture is what gives the hard pretzel its brittle texture.

Pretzel buns are different to regular bread because they are boiled in a baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and water solution before being baked in a hot oven.

They're Boiled, Not Baked.

The dough is first shaped into a long rope and then boiled in water before being baked at a higher temperature than bread. This process creates a distinctive pretzel shape and gives them their unique taste.

The gluten development in dough plays a crucial role in its final texture. Bread dough, which is often made with higher protein flour, can develop strong and elastic gluten strands that give the bread its chewy texture and ability to rise. Pizza dough, otherwise, may require less gluten development for a softer crust.

What dough are pretzels made of? ›

Dough for Soft Pretzel Bites

You need just 6 basic ingredients to get started including warm water, yeast, a little sugar to feed the yeast, melted butter, salt, and all-purpose flour. (If you have it, the same amount of bread flour works too!). You can use either instant (quick rise) or active dry yeast in this dough.

If we want to further subdivide our baking forays, we then go into the types of doughs we can use. Traditionally, there are two categories: leavened and unleavened doughs.