Shellfish Free Classic Pretzel Rolls
Chewy on the outside, pillowy in the center, and finished with a generous shower of coarse salt — these pretzel rolls deliver that iconic bakery experience straight from your own oven. The secret to their deep mahogany color and bold, slightly bitter pretzel flavor is a two-part technique: baking the baking soda first to intensify its alkalinity, then briefly simmering each roll in that bath before it ever sees the oven. That extra step transforms ordinary dough into something that genuinely tastes like it came from a German street cart. Every ingredient here is straightforward pantry staple territory — flour, butter, yeast, egg, and salt — so there's zero guesswork about what's actually in your food. The egg wash and scored top give each roll a glossy, crackly crust that shatters just enough when you pull it apart. These are incredible alongside a bowl of soup, stuffed with deli meat, or honestly just eaten warm with a smear of good butter.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
For the dough
- 1 cup warm water (105–110°f / 40–43°c)
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
For the boiling bath
- ¼ cup baking soda
- 8 cups water
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
For finishing
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 1–2 tbsp coarse pretzel salt or flaky sea salt
Instructions
- 1
Combine the warm water, yeast, and 1 tsp sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and let stand until the surface is foamy and the mixture smells yeasty, about 5–8 minutes. If the yeast does not foam, it is not active — start over with fresh yeast.
- 2
Add the flour, fine salt, and softened butter to the yeast mixture. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until the flour is incorporated, then increase to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth, slightly tacky, and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl, about 6–8 minutes. The dough should spring back slowly when poked.
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