Pretzel Roll Recipe
Make homemade pretzel buns that are sure to be a crowd-pleaser!
This is Dirt Farmer Maggie with a freshly baked batch of pretzel rolls!
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Pretzel Roll Recipe
Homemade pretzel rolls are a lovely treat and surprisingly easy to make. Our recipe was inspired by a King Arthur pretzel rolls recipe, with a couple of tweaks from Dirt Farmer Maggie. These buns have a deep brown crust and a delightfully soft interior. If you’re anything like us, once you learn how to make our pretzel roll recipe, we bet they’ll be on regular rotation in your family’s menu.
Our homemade pretzel buns include yeast, which is what helps give them their soft and fluffy texture. The key to success with our pretzel roll recipe is to bring your wet ingredients to 105 degrees before adding them to the dry ingredients. This is because yeast is finicky and needs just the right temperature to activate. If you get this right, the rest of the recipe is a breeze!
As with most yeast bread recipes, make sure to plan ahead if you decide to make these. This is because you’ll need to allow time for the dough to rise. You can have these pretzel rolls on the table within a couple of hours. It’s also a great recipe to make ahead of time or freeze.
Read on to learn how to make our pretzel roll recipe! We’ve also included a link to a video of Dirt Farmer Maggie making these rolls at the end of this page. Have fun and enjoy!
Ingredients for Homemade Pretzel Rolls
To make our pretzel roll recipe, you’ll need to gather the following ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups water
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
¾ tsp. salt
Dry Ingredients:
4 ½ cups flour
¼ cup nonfat dry milk
2 tsp. instant yeast
Additional Ingredients:
8 cups water
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ cup baking soda
Optional Ingredient:
Coarse sea salt (topping for the pretzel rolls)
How to Make Homemade Pretzel Buns
As with most yeast bread recipes, you’ll need to plan ahead if you want to make our pretzel roll recipe. This is because the rolls need time to rise. Although it takes a couple of hours to make these homemade pretzel rolls, there is quite a bit of idle time. If you use a stand mixer to mix the dough, it’s even easier. Once you’ve tasted these rolls, every bit of time it takes to make them is worth it!
To make our pretzel roll recipe, follow these 10 simple steps:
1. Heat the Wet Ingredients
The first step in our recipe is to heat all of the wet ingredients. To get started, melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Once that’s done, add the water and salt. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan (ensuring the tip of the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan). Stir the mixture constantly, and heat to 105 degrees. Do not heat above 105 degrees!
2. Mix the Dry Ingredients
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. If you’re planning to use a stand mixer (such as a KitchenAid), you can add these ingredients directly to your mixer bowl. This will reduce the number of dishes you need to wash at the end. Win-win!
3. Incorporate the Wet and Dry Ingredients
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix everything until the dough comes together. If you’re using a KitchenAid stand mixer, mix on speed two until everything is incorporated into a soft dough.
4. Knead the Dough for 10 Minutes
Once the wet ingredients are incorporated, knead it for an additional 10 minutes. If you’re making the pretzel buns by hand, you’ll also need to knead the dough by hand. However, if you’re using a stand mixer, turn on your machine to a low speed and let the dough hook do the work for you.
5. Let the Dough Rise and Preheat Your Oven
Place the dough in a greased metal or glass bowl and cover with a soft cloth. Set the bowl on top of a 325-degree oven (or a very warm place) and let it rise for one hour.
6. Prepare the Water for Boiling
When you have about 10 minutes of rising time left, prepare the water for boiling. In a large pot, add the additional ingredients you’ve set aside:
8 cups water
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ cup baking soda
Get this mixture heating over medium heat.
7. Divide the Dough, Form Balls, and Let it Rest
When your dough has risen for an hour, divide it into 10 equal pieces and form balls. If you want to make smaller rolls, then you can always break them into smaller pieces. Let the balls rest on a greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
8. Preheat the Oven to 400 Degrees and Boil the Water
Set your oven to 400 degrees. Your water should already be heating up. Wait until the water is at a rolling boil, and then move on to the next step.
9. Boil the Pretzel Buns
Drop two to three balls at a time into boiling water and cook for 30 seconds on each side. Once boiled, remove the balls and put them on some paper towels to dab off excess moisture. You’ll then place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet.
10. Bake the Pretzel Buns
Once all the balls are boiled and placed on the greased cookie sheet, cut an “X” in the top of each roll with a sharp knife about ½ inch deep. Sprinkle each roll with coarse sea salt.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 24 minutes until they’re deep brown. Remove and cool. Most importantly, enjoy eating them!
Bottom Line
Most yeast bread recipes take time to make since the dough needs time to rise. For this reason, you can expect it to take a couple of hours to make our pretzel roll recipe. Even so, you’ll have quite a bit of idle time while you wait for the rolls to rise. If you’re pressed for time at dinner, you can make them earlier in the day and save them for later. They also hold up well in the freezer!
Keep in mind, any time you’re making an item that contains yeast, it's important to bring the wet ingredients to 105 degrees before adding them to the dry ingredients. This temperature is critical to activating the yeast properly. As another tip, I dab the wet rolls on a paper towel after boiling to dry them slightly before placing them on the cookie sheet. This helps protect the integrity of the greased pan.
Most importantly, have fun making this pretzel roll recipe! Feel free to leave me a comment to let me know about your experience or other recipes you want me to try. Enjoy!
