There’s nothing quite like freshly baked bread. And when it comes from your own hands and your own oven it’s even better and more satisfying. I love bread and encourage everyone else who feels the same way to try their hand at it too!
I’ve always enjoyed the process of making bread. It’s methodical and relaxing, and I always feel proud of the end result. Plus when your friends come over for veggie burger parties they’ll ask, “did you really make this all from scratch?” I know this because that’s what my friends do. So anyway freshly baked homemade bread is great, yeah, we know (unless of course you don’t eat gluten, and then, I’m sorry, this post isn’t for you). Pretzel buns are certainly no exception! Chewy and doughy-soft, with that delicious pretzel flavor, they are the perfect accompaniment to your veggie burgers.
Pretzels are traditionally made with a lye bath, and it’s this ultra caustic environment that allows the dough to brown to that rich color, and also gives it the characteristic pretzel flavor. Browning in cooking occurs via the Maillard Reaction, but how acidic or basic your food is affects how browned it gets (and by basic I don’t mean this kind of basic, haha). The higher the pH (more basic), the better/darker your food will brown. Now, this is all well and good, but most home cooks do not want to mess with lye. It’s just probably not worth it. Lye is very basic and can cause bad chemical burns. I’m all for the occasional risk in the kitchen, but luckily for you, we can use baking soda to a similar effect and save lye for the professional kitchens. Baking soda is a milder base than lye, so it won’t produce as darkly browned of a product. To counter this, we make a relatively strong/concentrated baking soda water bath instead of a simple lye bath. For a smooth crusty finish I actually boil the baking soda, salt, and water solution and give the dough a quick 1 minute boil before baking.
Boiling isn’t necessary, and isn’t traditional. You can just dip them in a hot water, salt, and baking soda bath, but I found that it produces a different finish that, as you can see, is a little more crackly (side note: those are my chickpea meatballs sandwiched in the pretzel roll, yum!). Whether you prefer dipped or boiled is up to you! One other change I made from your typical pretzel bun recipe is that I used non-dairy milk instead of water. This produced a softer bread, which can be perfect for more delicate veggie burgers and fillings. However, if you prefer the more traditional version you can substitute water for the milk 1:1. The end result with water has more pronounced chewy pretzel texture. If you’re serving the buns with a burger like my stuffed mediterranean veggie burgers (plus enjoy seeing these pretzel buns in action!), it’ll hold up together well enough for the chewier bread. So really it’s up to you and what you’ll be stuffing inside the bun. I like both versions equally!
Ok, that’s enough pretzel talk, let’s move on to the recipe! As always, if you try this recipe let me know. I love seeing & hearing about it when you guys make my recipes! Leave a comment and/or rate the recipe below, tag me on Instagram (or #thecuriouschickpea), share with me on Facebook!
Notes:
You can substitute water for the non-dairy milk in the dough for a chewier texture. For a traditional pretzel use hot tap water to dissolve the baking soda and salt and dip the buns in that before baking instead of boiling. The buns will look a bit different.
Pretzel dough recipe adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day
Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch
