I completely agree with your assessment on the necessity of a lye bath. It's unnecessary for the home pretzel baker. In fact, I called my cousin, who owns an Auntie Annes Pretzel Store and she said that she'd heard about lye-baths for pretzels, but always considered it a very old-world, hard pretzel tradition.

I've made countless pretzels using a recipe similar to the one here. And, like you, I've found that boiling them first gives them a significant edge over dry baking. :) I used to egg wash mine, but I gave it up when the kids couldn't notice a difference.

I found the fermentation was helpful; not so much for taste, but in my small kitchen it gave me time to clean and prep for the shaping.

Hi,

I'm an absolute fan of Hamelman's bread book. Everything I tried turned out great. I made the Pretzels with real lye (NaOH) and they tasted absolutely authentic. I should know that because I'm from Germany ;-) You can see the result in my blog Chili und Ciabatta

Good to know.

I have to admit, when I spent a couple of weeks in Koln a few years back I ate a ton of bread (mostly rolls), but I never got around to trying pretzels there.

Without the lye bath the pretzels come out like the soft pretzels that are commonly found in the States at places like baseball games, but I bet they are a lot different than authentic German pretzels.

I added a link to your blog to the link section. I remember looking at it when you first joined this site... you bake some beautiful stuff!

Thanks for adding the link to my blog :-)

Pretzels (or Bretzeln, Brezeln as we call them) are very typical for the southern part of Germany, for Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. My brother, who lives near Koeln, has to import them from the south ;-)

Wow! I made these this afternoon and they are simply amazing! I let them rise (outside in the warm sun) for about 30 minutes, used the egg bath...they baked up to be fabulous! I am considering making pretzel rolls, using this recipe, later tonight.

I brushed them with melted butter before salting and baking :-)

Hey! How can you say with confidence that you can skip the lye bath if you didn't even try it?
A good pretzel isn't for the timid! Real German pretzels have a distinct taste and texture. Chewy -- almost bagel-like, but with a tough "skin". They also have an odd, bitter taste. Mmm! Goes with beer.

A dilute lye solution isn't hard to handle. All the recipes I've seen call for a VERY weak solution. I've been burned by concentrated lye a few times with no permanent damage (so it did make my skin peel and bleed). A weak solution should be even easier to handle. It burns skins very slowly, so if it is washed off quickly you should be fine. I'd be more concerned about having it splash in my eyes.

I'm also looking for a recipe for Lye Rolls, but this seems to be even harder to find than mercury cake frosting. You can't find everything on the internet.

I can say with confidence that you CAN skip the lye bath, because when you have small children in the house, the option of only the fanciest schmanciest pretzels that can require a hazmat team at the ready or no bagels, this makes a damn good compromise. I think the point here is that you can still do this at home even without bringing in stuff that will make your skin "skin peel and bleed" ;)

My grandmother taught me to bake. She was full German extract, her father and mother came from near Nuremburg. She used baking soda in place of the lye bath. You can wash the pretzels with 1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda in a cup of boiling water. Sodium Bicarbonate is a mild base as compared to Sodium Hydroxide (lye), for the chemists amongst us. You can put 4 Tablespoons in a quart of water and actually boil them similar to the way you do a bagel before cooking. This gives the more authentic feel to the pretzels.

I found this site through my friend Markalope and his delicious-looking pictures of these pretzels.

I made them last night with a lovely little twist - I stuffed brie in the middle before baking! They were absolutely divine and we named them "brietzels". 

I followed the instructions up to rolling out the separate sections. Once that was done, I used a sharp knife to slice halfway through, the entire length of the roll, and spread the dough apart. I sliced brie into 1 cm by 1 cm strips and laid it in the dough, then pinched the ends back together over the brie and twisted it into pretzel shape. I used the eggwash and kosher salt, but I bet cinnamon/sugar would be a great topping with this as well. They baked just fine and only a bit of the brie bubbled out here and there.

And really, oh my goodness, they were SO delicious. I'm now plotting other things to stuff into these pretzels. What a recipe, mmmm, and a delicious site in general! Thank you so much!

Laura Jones
Fan of Bread (and Cheese)

Hello!

I tried pretzels last night. They were edible, but they stuck to the pan. Once they've been dunked in boiling water they go on the baking sheet. Does the baking sheet need to be greased or have corn meal on it? I used a light covering of olive oil. Maybe I didn't let the water drip off good enough before placing them on the pan...

Any ideas on why my pretzels stuck to the pan?

Thank you,

~John

I actually did use a lye bath to  make pretzels, or "pretzel bread" from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible.  http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=21995818&postID=115480965776492221

I'm not sure that it was worth it, but I'm glad I tried it once.

HILLMAN AND LOFS HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD.  BRUSHING, BATHING/BOILING USING A BAKING SODA SOLUTION, AND THEN SPRINKLE W/ COARSE SALT MAKE THE BEST AND SAFEST PRETZELS.  NO EGG WASHES ETC.  THE SODA WASH CAN DEAL WITH A HOT OVEN AND STILL GET THE SHEEN.   WHAT REALLY MAKES A PRETZEL ARE THE VARIOUS ''DIPS'' OR ''CONDIMENTS'' THAT CAN BE CREATED.   ANY IDEAS OUT THERE?  

Instead of lye, I use barley malt (dry malt extract), like you'd use in beer making or as a replacement for sugar in bread making (malt is a simpler sugar and easier for the yeasties to eat). I probably use a half cup or a cup of malt disolved in water and then brought to a boil -- watch for boil-overs (it can be a sticky mess)! The malt gives a great sheen, a deep dark brown color, and real tough skin texture. I just throw the pretzels in the boil, turn them once after a minute or so, take them out to drip dry for a couple mins, then throw salt on them and toss them, still moist, directly into a 500 degree oven on the stone - sizzle!

I prefer the flavor of sourdough pretzels made by just taking a good sourdough sponge and adding enough flour to make your dough -- which is the same recipe i use for pizza crust and rustic crackers -- super simple, naturally tasty :)

... but the real trick to making pretzels: shaping by just grabbing the ends of the rolled out dough, and with one quick flip, getting them to twist up and flop down in the perfect pretzel shape :)

I just wanted to share with you just how much I love this pretzel recipe.  I've made it twice this week already.  I only use 2 1/4 cups of flour, boiled them in baking soda/water, used regular table salt to flavor the tops.  My husband dipped them in cheese sauce. 

How wonderful thank you!

Vicki

This recipe rocks!! I just made a batch and it's so easy and so so deliclous!! I boiled mine in water with a teaspoon of baking soda. 
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!

I've tried the pretzels both ways. With the lye bath you get a strong "bite" and a great texture reminiscent of "real" german pretzels. Without the lye, parboiling with (or without) soda, you get a pretzel that's also good, but more reminiscent of the soft pretzels from a streetcorner in Philadelphia. My best luck with coating a sheet is both oil and corn meal. Parchment paper works, but the lye dip will burn holes in it.

The lye is a fairly weak solution, but you must be careful to get food grade lye. Drain cleaner is a big no-no. You can often find food grade lye inexpensively at soapmaking supply shops.

Ok, In my and my wives opinion...the only way to make a true "Bavarian Bretzeln" as they call them is with the lye wash.  I am still trying to perfect the proper way to bake it but I can say if you are looking for the crisp dark brown color you won't get it any other way.  Food Grade lye is used at a 3% dilution which is still enough to which you should use gloves and glasses.  Food Grade Lye is available by mail order at  www.aaa-chemicals.com for a reasonable price.  I mix 4 Tablespoons with 8 cups of warm water in a non-reactive bowl, seems to work great.  I am gonna experiment with maybe spritzing it with a spray bottle and see if that will also work.

BTW, the picture at the top of the page, those pretzels are lacking the twist that makes a pretzel a pretzel.

Just for the record, my wife is from Bavaria and also from Munich, very close to where they hold the Oktoberfest each year, I have gotten approval from her and also my father-in-law to make these in America.  LOL !!!  Good Luck all and please try it at least once.  By all means if you haven't had an Authentic German Pretzel, then make the trip, and yes, they are much different than those things we call pretzels.

This is in response to the sticky pretzel question.  I made one batch of pretzels that stuck to the pan because I didnt add enough flour.  The recipe is a little unclear of just how much flour to add exactly and 1 cup can make a big difference. 

The second batch I made I added like 2 1/2 cups of flour and they didnt stick.  I am going to have to experiment to find the best flour consistency for my preferences.

Anyhoo, hope that helps.

I made another batch of these pretzels.  I used exactly 2 1/4 cups of flour and they turned out wonderful.  #1 Really make sure that water is boiling like crazy before you dunk them in.  #2 Make sure your pretzels are dry on the bottoms before placing them on the pan #3  I used a light spray of non-stick cooking spray. 

Hope this helps JohnM...oh and cant say I've ever played VP at mainstreet station :) 

I just made this recipe  (I actually have 1/2 of them in the oven right now)  and regarding sticking, I used my silpats to bake them on and it worked great, no oil and no drying the bottoms.  I use my silpats whenever I bake bread and I never have any problem what so ever.

I am loving these pretzels!  I just hope ther are some left for my husband when he get's home they are, after all his valentines gift! 

 caribbaker

Somebody please help me.
What is the difference in ingredients or prep or technique that makes a soft pretzel versus a crispy hard pretzel?

You can make pretzel-shaped pastries out of whatever you want, but if it's a south Germany type pretzel, it has to have the lye dip.

This is widely thought to just give a brown colour and a particular skin texture, but that is minor compared to the flavour.  The lye, the baking heat, and the surface of the dough combine in a reaction that makes for the unique - and to those who have grown up with it, absolutely indispensable - pretzel flavour.

In fact, look in the ingredient list on a bag of hard crunchy cocktail pretzels.  Sodium hydroxide.  Baking soda, egg yolk, hot water... they don't produce the same flavour.

Having just made a batch last night, I can tell you how nasty 3% NaOH solution (the correct lye - and it HAS TO BE FOOD GRADE to avoid harmful impurities) is.  If it dries up on a standard laminate countertop (getting concentrated in the process and leaving a white powdery residue) it will very slightly etch it - about comparable damage to scouring with the green side of a new dish sponge.

It does not react with iron or copper.  It does react with aluminum.  It reacts very slowly with glass... concentrated pretzel lye kept in a glass container will eventually make that container not quite clear any more.  Keeping a 3% working strength solution in a normal glass jar with screw metal top is unproblematic.

If you touch it, it feels soapy.  If you expose your hands to it for a minute - I did that while hand dipping some buns - they will itch for two days, and the top most layer of skin will peel.  Not recommended.  Don't get it in your eyes under any circumstances.  A simple cheap pair of tongs to grab the unbaked buns/pretzels to dip them is sufficient.

Yes, it's nasty stuff, but you need it.

I got mine from an outfit called "Lentia" in Toronto, Ont. that still sells it.  Dilute the powder at a rate of 36 grams per liter of water (carefully - adding the powder to the water, NEVER the other way around).

I read that it's hard to find in the USA because of its use in making illegal drugs.  Figures.

Markus

I found these really cool shaping videos on a German site. I've got a translated link here for y'all.

I don't doubt that this pretzel recipe may be quite tasty, but if you are talking about the dip being what makes the pretzel, it is absolutely different from a bavarian pretzel.  Sholdn't need anything, except perhaps, real unsalted butter. 

We love this recipe. We made this at my daughter's school - preK class, ages 3-6, and it was a simple fun and tasty.  Does anyone have a source for the malt powder?

How does one dispose of a lye bath ... is it safe for the plumbing to flush this down the toilet or sink ?

I'd like to try a cold, food grade lye batch but I don't want to store the solution in the house.

 Thanks, BROTKUNST

I've been making pretzels lately and note that some descriptions talk about holding the dough between two spatulas in the boiling water bath. (I use baking soda 1T per cup of water). I use a simple French bread type dough recipe and the second rise makes them puffy enough to float and still firm enough to use tongs for handling.

I experimented with a tomato-herb pizza dough that I had frozen and found that although the pretzels were okay, they did not float and were kind of gloopy to handle. Point being, using the right dough makes it easy and fun.

If you add about 1/2 to a teaspoon of celery seed to the dough mixture you get a bite more like real pretzels. I made pretzel rolls using a similar recipe, they were yummy. I had a little trouble finding the correct dough consistency though, does any one have any photos of what the dough looks like before you let it rise?

I tried making pretzels once....what a disaster.

 How do you boil them without them instantly turning into noodles?  The outside got immediately soft and mushy.  Then I thought "well maybe this how it is supposed to be" and tried to bake them--you ever try to bake a soggy noodle? <roflolol>

How stiff does the dough have to be?  and how do you keep them from turning noodly?

Thanks!

My Grammy Albertine was an amazing cook, and cooked professionally in a hotel kitchen in Switerland before emigrating to America.

Her pretzels were legendary, and her recipe differs substantially from the one printed here. First of all-- no sugar in dough, a little salt. A cup & a half of lard in the dough. Dough allowed to rise for an hour before shaping. Once shaped, left overnight, in a cool place, on baking sheets. (I live in a small Manhattan apartment, with a small Manhattan refrigerator, so I put them on my fire escape, covered in Saran.)

No boiling! Lye bath? ABSOLUTELY. Kosher salt, obviously.

The result? Glossy, dark-brown pretzels with frissuring on the outside... MUCH less puffy than those shown in your photos... crispy outside, tender inside. Very distinctive taste to the "crust".

It's a little strange to buy a cooking ingredient at the hardware store (I use "Red Devil" brand lye), but it's not as dangerous as you all seem to think. I've never worn gloves-- and certainly not GOGGLES-- while making them. I've even dipped them with my fingers occasionally, instead of tongs-- mildly irritating, until you rinse your hands. (I've learned not to use teflon-coated baking sheets, though-- it'll remove the teflon, DON'T try it.)

All who've sampled my grandmother's recipe are blown-away, and they immediately demand that I manufacture these commercially. Alas, like all beautiful things, they're short-lived and will harden to rock within about twelve hours or so. Covering them will Saran makes them soggy, due to the salt.

Lye is sold for the sole purpose of unclogging drains (if you discount home pretzel-making) so dump it into any household drain that would benefit most!

Is there such a thing? Sounds like a superstition, to me....

I have been trawling the web for the perfect German pretzel but most seem too complicated for a simple girl like me and a lot of them had a ridiculous amount of sugar (I am from Australia and our bread doesn't contain much sugar compared with the US), so was excited to find the above - and woohoo - it worked!!  I couldn't wait to make them and even used out of date yeast and they were still wonderful!  Thanks for the recipe - they are the closest I get to German pretzels here in Australia!

P.S.  I also added the baking soda to the boiling water instead of just plain water in lieu of the lye.

My sister and I tried these and they were amazing.  We stuffed them with a combination of spinach, (precooked) pork sausage, and pepper jack cheese, and they were quite incredible.

Thanks for the instructions & the recipe. They were great!!! I brushed them with melted margerine (I think butter would have been better) and topped with cinnamon sugar. yumm

My(X) hubby was stationed in Germany, 4 years in Munich and 6 years in Stuttgart and we stayed an additional 4 years in Stuttgart. Soft pretzels and pretzel rolls were sold on the street daily as a main staple. While there I had the opportunity to attend a Volks Schule where they taught basic recipes. While traditionally they indeed used lye (many still do)in pretzels, many now use a couple teaspoons of baking soda in the boiling water instead. They used enamel pots instead of aluminum pans or other metal pans because the soda will cause discoloration. I used a glass pyrex "pan". They allowed the dough to proof after shaping for 10 or 15 minutes...and after boiling for a couple minutes, they had them drain on a baking rack. While on the rack they brushed an egg wash and salted them-then placed them on the baking sheet, Thats about it. I make them often with great results.

Food grade lye is not a superstition or urban legend.  It is a government dictated standard regarding the amount of impurities in the lye. 

Regarding the necessity of the lye bath...define "necessary"...

If your goal is to recreate an ancient bakery product that has been made for hundreds of years and to recreate that product in the Southern German style....you need the lye bath.

They really do taste better with the lye.  And they look better too.  I have to imagine that if you are a member of this site that authenticity and quality of appearance mean something to you.  

That said, there is nothing wrong with taking on a pretzel project as a fun family activity.  In that case I recommend the boiling baking soda as a substitute. 

If that is still too much for you, at least dip them in a cold baking soda solution like Auntie Ann's does.  

The higher PH of the lye/soda will greatly assist in the carmelization of the crust.

As a final note, I guess I don't understand the hostility regarding the lye bath.  Like I mentioned previously, if you are so into baking that you are a forum subscriber here, should you not care at least a LITTLE about authenticity?  It is irrefutable that the lye bath is a critical component to traditiional Bavarian/Swabian German pretzels.  

Quit looking for a shortcut and do it right.  It is worth it.   

Here's my experience (I am a very very novice baker) with this recipe.