Homemade Sourdough Pretzel Buns Recipe ~ Barley & Sage (2024)

FAQs

What makes pretzel buns brown? ›

Baking Soda

This very important ingredient sets pretzel buns apart from regular buns. Ten cups of water is combined with ½ cup baking soda to make the baking soda bath. The baking soda solution helps to create the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for the traditional brown color of pretzels.

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.

Sourdough pretzels also have a richer taste than regular pretzels. Plus, they include less gluten than regular pretzels. Sourdough is a healthy carb you can feel good about enjoying!

Friday 8 PM - Mix the pretzel dough, cover the bowl, and let the dough ferment on the counter overnight. Saturday 8 AM - Divide the dough, shape the pretzels, cover, and let rise. Saturday 8:30 AM - Prepare a water bath with baking soda and dark brown sugar.

The answer lies in a brief dip in an alkaline water bath before baking. This bath essentially gelatinizes the outside of the pretzel, preventing it from fully “springing” during baking (as bread does) and giving pretzels their signature chewy crust. It also gives them their unique and indelible “pretzel” flavor.

Mix baking soda into water and bring to a boil. Dip pretzels for 30 seconds to a minute, turn and leave in the solution for another 30 seconds. Take them out carefully with a slotted spoon and dry off, patting with a paper towel. Place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

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. Don't skip it!

The pretzel buns get a water bath in a solution made from water and baked baking soda - this gives them that signature pretzel taste. Egg wash and score.

Gluten helps provide structure, allowing a baked good to have more body and sturdiness. As a result, bread flour will make it easier for a pretzel to hold its shape. This can be an advantage to beginner bakers, especially since the shape of a pretzel is so important.

Are sourdough pretzels low carb? ›

Rold Gold Sourdough Pretzels (1 pretzel) contains 19g total carbs, 17g net carbs, 1g fat, 2g protein, and 90 calories.

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.

On the one hand, lye gives pretzels their distinctive flavor, kind of a sharp flatness, if that makes sense. It's what keeps a pretzel from tasting like pretzel-shaped bread.

Ideally, you would use pretzel salt when making pretzels. But this type of salt is not always easy to find in the store. That's why many people turn to kosher salt instead. And indeed, these two types of salt have a lot in common.

Lye is primarily used to make pretzels, and it's the reason for their unmistakable shiny, mahogany color. To prepare, shaped pretzels are dipped in a lye bath, then baked in the oven. This method can also be used with rolls or buns.

Pretzel recipes are very simple, usually a slightly enriched yeast dough. What makes them pretzels is the shaping and the use of a bath in boiling water to form that tight, golden brown skin. Traditionally, the water bath contained lye, but nowadays, most people use either baking soda or non-diastatic malt powder.

At its most basic level, the Maillard reaction is quite simple. When our food is heated to a temperature of at least 280°F, a chemical reaction occurs between amino acids (proteins) and carbohydrates (sugars) that causes it to brown. So essentially: protein + sugar + heat = browning.

Baking soda mixture

Alkaline pretzel dough will help the dough brown while baking and the pretzels will have a crisp but chewy exterior. Skipping the baking soda mixture will result in pale pretzels, with a texture similar to a bagel.