Germany’s famous pretzel, reworked as a burger bun, has quite a following. With its signature scoring and dark crust, it makes any burger look irresistible. I hope you enjoy making it. As I mention in the video, you can swap the milk and butter for water and olive oil for a firmer, vegan pretzel bun.
The short answer
A burger bun adapted from Germany’s pretzel, scored and dark-crusted: five buns of about 97 g, ready in 3 hours and baked in 18 minutes at 210 °C. Instead of lye, I get that signature dark crust by boiling the buns in baking soda water. It’s the traditional recipe reworked, in both ingredients and shape, into a burger bun.
Recipe
Pretzel Burger Buns
- Prep3 hr
- Cook18 min · 210°C
- Makes5 buns, 97 g each
Ingredients
- 266 g high-protein (12%+) bread flour
- 3 g instant yeast
- 5 g salt
- 21 g sugar
- 19 g unsalted butter
- 186 g milk, at 30°C
- 40 g baking soda
Method
- Sift the flour. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl; set the baking soda aside for later.
- Add the melted butter, cooled to room temperature, and the milk at 30°C and start mixing; it’s normal for it to be sticky at first.
- Knead by pushing the dough away with the heel of your hand and pulling it back; 12–14 minutes by hand (about 8 in a stand mixer), until it’s elastic and no longer sticks to your hands.
- Put it in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise at room temperature until doubled (about 45 minutes at 26–27°C, up to 2 hours in a cool room).
- Knock it back gently and divide into 5 pieces (about 95 g). Fold the edges in and roll on the counter into smooth balls with no cracks; place them on a tray.
- Cover with a damp towel and rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a wide pan, lower the heat and add the baking soda a little at a time (it foams); stir until dissolved.
- Poach the buns in the baking soda water for 20–30 seconds per side and transfer to a tray lined with baking paper.
- Score the tops with a razor blade in confident, not too deep, cuts.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 210°C for 18 minutes, until deeply browned.
Notes
- Traditional pretzels are dipped in lye; here baking soda gives the dark crust.
Why baking soda instead of lye?
A traditional pretzel is dipped in lye before it goes into the oven; that’s where the dark crust comes from. Lye is a hazardous substance, so I didn’t want to use it. Baking soda also darkens whatever you cook with it; you may have noticed that patties made with a pinch of it brown more deeply. Boiling the buns in baking soda water gives a burger bun the same effect.
The dough, by hand or machine
- I made this by hand for everyone without a stand mixer, but a mixer works too. Knead 12–14 minutes by hand, about 8 in a stand mixer.
- Since I used instant yeast, all the dry ingredients went in together. With fresh or active dry yeast, check my yeast conversion table.
- Sift the flour, then stir it once more to aerate it. Keep the baking soda aside for now.
- Push the dough away with the heel of your hand, gather it and pull it back; that’s how a sticky dough turns smooth and elastic.
- At 26–27 °C indoors it doubles in about 45 minutes; in a cooler winter room at 21–22 °C, it can take 2 hours.
Shaping, boiling, scoring
- My dough weighed 480 g: five pieces of 90–95 g. Flatten each into a disc, fold the edges in, seal underneath and roll it on the counter into a smooth ball with no cracks.
- Cover with a damp towel and rest 20 minutes.
- Bring water to a boil in a wide pan, lower the heat and add the baking soda a little at a time; it foams hard in hot water. Stir until dissolved.
- Boil the buns 20–30 seconds on each side in the baking soda water, then move them to the tray.
- Score them end to end with a razor blade, decisively and without hesitating; not too deep, but enough to see them open. Mind your fingers.
Texture, and a vegan version
A classic pretzel is firmer; this bun is closer to what I call my cloud-like breads, with a satisfying chew of its own. Swap the milk and butter for water and olive oil and you get a slightly firmer, vegan pretzel bun.
Keep reading and listening
- Potato butter burger buns, with a comparison of the burger buns on the site
- Brioche burger buns
- Fresh, active dry and instant yeast: conversion table
- The Burger Handbook
- Burgers on our podcast YBYK (in Turkish): episode 9, Burger 101
