Growing up in Germany, pretzel buns have been a staple food during my childhood! A lot of the store-bought ones, however, are not always vegan, so it was about time to create an easy homemade version of Vegan Pretzel Buns! These little fluffy pillow are my new favorite thing! They are ridiculously easy to make and come out perfectly. I don’t know why but for some reason I always thought that bread-making is a difficult endeavor. In fact, these Vegan Pretzel Buns only require 6 very basic ingredients, no fancy equipment and they come out better than the bakery ones – you’ll see! 😉
Fun fact: in Germany we don’t actually call pretzel buns pretzel buns, but rather ‘brine buns’ because of the special leach you dump those buns in. No matter the name, they are incredibly delicious! I’ll definitely be making these all the time now just because you can ‘healthify’ them a bit when making at home and they’re 100 times better when fresh out of the oven (and made with love)! 🙂
You’ll need 6 basic ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, water, baking soda, and sugar. Now, there is some leeway in regards to the ingredients. For the flour, I tried making it with all-purpose flour and spelt flour and they both work great. Instead of white sugar you could use coconut or brown sugar. A lot of people have asked for a gluten-free version but I haven’t mastered that one yet!
If you decide to give these Vegan Pretzel Buns a try, let me know! Leave a comment and rate it – it’s so helpful to me and other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me (@thetastyk) and #thetastyk so I can share your remakes on Instagram! I love seeing what you come up with. Love and enjoy! ♥
- Buns:
- 1 tsp active dry yeast (4g)
- ½ cup lukewarm water (to activate the yeast)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour, divided (or white spelt flour) - plus more if needed
- ½ tsp salt
Brine:- 4 cups water
- 3 Tbsp baking soda
Topping:- ½ tsp coarse sea salt
- Place the yeast together with the lukewarm water into a small bowl (the water should be warm but not hot). Add the sugar and briefly stir everything together, then put aside and let rest for 5 minutes until the yeast has activated.
- In a separate large non-metal bowl, add 1 cup flour and salt and combine. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly. The dough will be very sticky. Place the remaining 0.5 cup flour on a working surface, place the dough on top and knead for 5-8 minutes until you have a moist, but not sticky dough.
- Clean your large bowl and slightly grease with oil. Return the dough to the bowl and turn it around a few times so that it becomes coated with a thin layer of oil. Cover with a towel and let rest for 1 hour until the dough has doubled.
- Punch the dough down and take out of the bowl. Knead with a little bit more flour if too sticky, the cut into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a lined baking sheet with enough distance apart. Let rise another 30 minutes, then cut a cross on top of each ball.
- Preheat your oven to 200C/400F and place a small/medium pot over high heat with the 4 cups water. Add in the baking soda and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let simmer. Add each dough ball into the pot and allow to cook for 1 minute, flipping over halfway through, then remove from the water using a slotted spoon or spatula and place back on the baking tray. Repeat until all of the dough balls have been cooked. Make sure the cross is still there, or renew it and place the tray in the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden brown, watching closely so it won't burn.
- Best served immediately with your favorite spread or store in a bread bag for up to 3 days.
Hi. This recipe looks great. However, I can’t have gluten – have you ever tried making this with gluten-free flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour? (it’s designed to be able to substitute 1-to-1 for regular all-purpose wheat flour) Thanks. 🙂
Following…I have the same problem….I may try these using Pamela’s GF/vegan pizza crust mix….thoughts?
Hey! 🙂 Personally I have only tried it with spelt and regular all purpose flour, so it’s just trial and error at this point. I’m not very experienced when it comes to gluten-free bread making so I really couldn’t tell! Please let me know though if it succeeds so I can add it for others to the recipe!
Just made these and they were tasty! I am at high altitudes so may need to tweak a bit for next time and bake a bit longer to get extra crusty. It was my first time baking buns and I was so surprised how easy and well you recipe was to make. I made them in 1/8 for chicken schnitzel sliders. Will be making again
nice! 🙂 yeah it takes a bit of tweaking sometimes, especially since oven temperatures can vary! So happy they turned out well for you! I was as surprised as you were 😉
Delicious! I made these last night, and they worked super well, though I had to leave them a little longer to rise because it was cool and rainy out. When do you add the salt topping so that it will actually stick to the top of the bun? I tried to do half coarse salt, half “everything but the bagel” seasoning, but I put it on top right near the end of baking and they all just slid off.
Given this is an older recipe, not sure if you will see this comment but I was wondering if these would be okay to freeze?
I live alone, so would love to make the batch and freeze them, so I can just use one at a time, as a burger bun.
I have never frozen them so can’t really say if it works! But if you end up trying it please let us know 🙂