How to Make Super Soft Pretzel Buns | Scalding Method

Pretzels are a very unique kind of baked good. Their distinct crust colour, texture, and flavour come as a result of boiling the dough prior to baking in an alkaline solution usually made with water and lye. At home we can somewhat replicate this effect by using baking soda and water. The shape of a pretzel is also very unique. Its image is often used as a design for bakery signs. That is also why I chose a pretzel as my channel logo.
We have made pretzels previously on the channel, but I had never tied making pretzel buns as I could not quite figure out the logistics. Thankfully, my friend Lan once again inspired me to try something different. As it turns out, there is not much to making a pretzel bun. The process is identical to regular pretzel making.
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[@ChainBaker]

📖 Find the written recipe in the link below the video. 🥨 Get early access to videos ⤵ kzbin.info/door/zSKbqj9Z042HuJTQI9V8ugjoin 🌾 Buy me a bag of flour ⤵ www.ko-fi.com/chainbaker 🔪 Find all the things I use here ⤵ 🇺🇸 www.amazon.com/shop/ChainBaker 🇬🇧 www.amazon.co.uk/shop/ChainBaker 🍞 Share your bread pictures here ⤵ www.flickr.com/groups/chainbaker/ 🍞 Visit my friends at ⤵ www.breadbakingathome.com/

[@mattlevault5140]

I've made your Yudane method burger buns for several cook-outs and gotten rave reviews! One guy thought they were so delicious that he never made the burger - he just ate the bun. These look fun and interesting. I'll add them to my list. Thx!

[@tuxedoneko9837]

Any day a video of yours is uploaded is a great day for me 😂 😋

[@ChainBaker]

🤩

[@BigboiiTone]

LMAO😂 agree!

[@coco805]

Thank you for demystifying a few of the steps explaining the reasons why. Pretzels are in my future!

[@RatherAshesThanDust]

I just found your channel when I was looking for proper hand kneading techniques. I'm not new to baking, but I'm VERY new to breadmaking and I was getting so discouraged by the nonstop "Now attach the dough hook and set the speed to low for 3 to 5 minutes..." It was surprisingly difficult to find someone who consistently works dough by hand. I've now spent the entire double-proof-and-baking-and-cooling time of the loaf I was working on browsing your instructional content. This is an amazing channel. I can't wait to try some of your recipes!

[@ChainBaker]

Cheers! :)

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

Prepped a double batch of dough - allowed to cold ferment for 20 hours, then shaped as six buns and a loaf. As the dough was straight from the fridge, I allowed for extra pre-shape rest and final proof times for the buns and loaf. I baked at 390F (no fan) - 23 mins for buns and 35 mins for the loaf. Oh, the crumb for both the buns and the loaf -so soft and fluffy with a wonderful depth of flavor and the crust has the perfect “pretzel” bite. Thanks, Charlie for creating this video and commenting about making it as a loaf. Whenever you say "or you can make it this way", I think to myself, "I can do that" - and I have you to thank for that. 🤩 Photos have been posted (#323)

[@deedaw9246]

Yep! Can't wait to make these!

[@davidmcdaniel3693]

They look delicious!

[@ROKillUminati47]

I've never tried making pretzels, but these buns look so appetizing, I'll have to make some time soon to try this recipe 🤤 !

[@TsirigotisGiorgos]

Wow, they look fantastic! I'll definitely give these a try.

[@kattykakes8135]

That sandwich is EVERYTHING! 🥳🥳

[@adamcoe]

Nicely done, gonna give these a try! Always love your stuff ChainBaker

[@GPoh_99]

Another banger, Charlie!

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

What a great recipe - thank you for creating this video. I have more cans of White Wheat ale handy in the fridge...

[@vaazig]

Have never made oretzels, nut will definitely try this next week

[@bonnie5601]

Hi Charlie. I’ve been working and am happy I saw this one today, but am trying to catch up on your videos! Praying you are well and Happy Healthy Easter!

[@ChainBaker]

Happy Easter, Bonnie! 🐰

[@sebastianrodas5469]

You channel is really the best, you have helped me so much, evan stared a burger shop and make my own buns for it, big fan from Santa Cruz, Bolivia

[@ChainBaker]

That is awesome! Good luck 😎

[@annchovy6]

Buns look great. If I get around to making them I’m definitely using lye. One correction- pretzels aren’t usually boiled, only soaked. They’re not meant to have the same chewy crust as a bagel.

[@Ogata123]

I blame you for my diet struggles 😖 seeing bread look so fun and tasty i started baking and, of course, ate the bread. I also thank you, as does my family, for teaching me how to make bread and for now having a fun skill! I’ve gotta take a break from bread baking for the sake of weight loss, but once i reach goal weight ill be incorporating homemade bread into my diet (need carbs for weightlifting), especially the slow fermented potato bread. Im curious how using a darker beer like a stout or scottish ale would alter the flavor

[@ChainBaker]

Keep it balanced and you'll be fine. Carbs are necessary for sure especially for training. Right on 💪 Yeah I reckon a dark beer would work great here!

[@Vojtech_Lapunik]

I also used to use baking soda, but since I tried leaching directly in NaOH I don't do it any other way. The taste and smell is incomparable. I highly recommend it.

[@charlesdarnay5455]

These are great because they really are so easy to make, no fuss. I like to use 75% bread flour and 25% whole wheat flour to give them a deeper, heartier taste but it's all good. Charlie, you should look into how to make German style "Brötchen" rolls if you like these pretzel buns; they are like your own miniature loaves of bread about the size of the palm of your hand. Yummy!

[@ChainBaker]

I'll add those to my list ✌️😎

[@geraldsahd3413]

Yummy

[@hair_stationhair6180]

❤ I like that

[@iluminameluna]

I've made pretzels before but this was long before I started watching "real" baking tutorials. I just followed actual BOOK bread baking recipes, like America's Test Kitchen, & The Joy of Baking, etc. I had good results, but not great. I think I'll start this method, w/ the scald, today, since we're snowed in (Central Wisconsin, March 22, 2024), & I need to make some bread anyway. I can't eat anything w/ beer, but I know my adult son & grands will enjoy the bread this weekend. Thanks so much for the recipe!

[@ChainBaker]

Pretzel loaf coming soon btw ! 😁

[@ArthurLaub]

Thanks for sharing another awesome recipe. The buns look delicious! If I want to use a 4% lye / water mix instead baking soda, would you still boil the water?

[@ChainBaker]

I've never used lye, so I can't say. But I think someone mentioned that the water must not be boiled.

[@BetweenTheBorders]

Always meant to make pretzels, never got around to it. Now that I can boil water again, it's time.

[@jonasoldorp8586]

love the recepie, looks like they dough is also great for bagels?

[@ChainBaker]

Yeah for sure!

[@norcalovenworks]

I am about to begin experimenting with birote de Guadalajara. What is this? A tough sourdough baguette, Mexican, that is halved lengthwise, stuffed with carnitas, and then covered in a brothy soup. I would love it if others who follow you would attempt this as well. I am tired of rye, so taking a small break from that to explore some wheat breads.

[@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410]

if you want to achieve something closer to lye pretzels but only have baking soda, one thing I've found very useful is cooking the soda. Sodium Bicarbonate can be dehydrated into Sodium Carbonate by heating in a pan or the oven (pan is faster and imo easier, but oven is better for bulk). This is effectively washing soda that you'll have made and it is a number or two more basic than baking soda, though not as much as lye. The end result is somewhere between soda pretzels and lye pretzels, but I find it quite serviceable myself and easy enough to boot that I never find myself not bothering to go through the process. I just leave it to cook off while I prepare the dough, as I don't normally bother with long fermentation times myself. edit: as the baking soda cooks off its water, it'll "dance" about the pan should you move it, behaving much like a liquid. Really weird to look at the first time actually, but you can tell it's about done when it _stops_ doing that and acts more like a normal powder again. Safety note: As the soda is quite hot and is a caustic powder *DO NOT* add water to the powder, and only ever the powder to the water, else it'll, and mind it's more caustic than normal baking soda now, will be flung about the place including one's face

[@ChainBaker]

Cheers for the tips! I will definitely try that ✌️😎

[@gregsavchuk3239]

Charlie, thx! Kinda like a Yudane or Shokupan method.?.? Then do an alkaline water quick boil, a very interesting touch. Kind regards 2 all...

[@ChainBaker]

That's it! Works a treat 😎 cheers!

[@bloodwolf7462]

For sure I will give it a try :D Still have few beers in my storage XD

[@pumpkinlord444]

Hello Baker, I have a video suggestion for you, I own a Panasonic Croustina break maker, and it does a pretty decent job at making artisan style bread, I recently tried some of your preferment techniques, and it improved the bread quality a lot, but I would be curious to see how far you could push to machine to produce the best result for the minium amount of manual work, and I thought you'd be the guy for that kind of experiment 😊, you make awesome videos by the way, cheers

[@ChainBaker]

If I ever get a bread maker, I'll make some videos for sure. But I can't say that it'll happen 😅

[@pumpkinlord444]

@@ChainBaker awesome

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

Yay! Now everyone can make Super Soft Pretzel buns! This is such a great update of your already fantastic Awesome Pretzel recipe! I think I will make a couple of Pretzel loaves to share at the office in the near future. ChainBaker subscribers, Charlie has 209K subscribers 🤩 - please continue to share your bakes with family, friends and colleagues and share photos on your social media channels (including links to Charlie's YT), asking your followers to subscribe to his channel. His outstanding videos help make us better bakers - let's all do we can to get to 300K subscribers by the end of the year. Remember, It only takes "ONE" post to go viral.....

[@ChainBaker]

You inspired me to make a pretzel loaf, so there will be a video for that in the near future too 😉

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

@@ChainBaker whoo hoo! can hardly wait to see how you made it!

[@rcjp]

Any advice on the malt powder? its not in your amazon links (unless I missed it). Just ordering the Cutter slashing Tool though from your list. There is an amazing pic on the uk version at least of some bread decoration using that razor, somehow doubt my will look like that though.

[@ChainBaker]

Get a small packet because that stuff is hard to use up is my advice. I've had the same bag for years, so not sure where it came from. Haha yeah the pictures always exaggerate what can be done 😅

[@dragoncarver287]

I made that Easter braid only with sourdough. I'm thinking I can do the same here. We'll see. First time for everything. =)

[@ChainBaker]

You can do it for sure 😎

[@xiaogu00fa]

Can I use darker beer like stout for the flavour 😊

[@ChainBaker]

Sure! 👍

[@knottybead4871]

I have malted barley flour. Can I use that as a substitution for the malt, or would I be better just leaving it out?

[@ChainBaker]

That should do the job.

[@Kebekwoodcraft7375]

Might be good for pizza 🍕 😊

[@AliaAscends]

Hi, we have a small bakery in Thailand and are steadily growing. Can you recommend a 15 tray baking trolly with good wheels that comes with 15 shallow baking sheets? We normally buy from Lazada, Shopee, and Alibaba. We're looking for something decent and don't want something made with poor quality. If you could recommend a brand or name, or anything would be great.

[@ChainBaker]

I only bake at home, so I don't use any commercial equipment. Can't help you there 😅

[@AliaAscends]

@@ChainBaker All good, man 👍

[@Wdbx831]

Thanks for all your insight into baking, now I have to lose some weight.

[@ChainBaker]

Balance is key! 😎

[@moussajoubi2574]

Hello…will you please answer my question …Why my ciabatta Bread is very soft inside but very chewy crast ? 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@ChainBaker]

Ciabatta should have a chewy crust if you ask me. If you want it thinner and crispier then try baking at a higher temperature and with more steam

[@szczupak1405]

I'm torn about adding salt to the scald - isn't one of the benefits of scalding increased enzyme activity breaking up the starches? In that case the added salt would negate it, wouldn't it?

[@ChainBaker]

That's more of a benefit for rye scalds which are kept at a constant temperature for many hours. This is a quick and dirty version to weaken the gluten and make the starch absorb lots of water to keep the bread fresh for longer. I've never noticed any difference between a scald with salt and one without.

[@SamTahbou]

I tried to find a bakery in my city that makes wedding bread, korovai, or karavai not sure what the English spelling would be. No luck. I think I'll have to bake a small one myself, any advice?

[@ChainBaker]

That looks very elaborate! I've never made anything like it. Not sure if I would have the patience 😄 I'd say look up some recipes on google and see which is most appealing and give it a go!

[@SamTahbou]

Thank you, I found a couple of recipes from some Russian speaking content creators, I think I will go with the one where they use pastry dough for the decorations rather than bread, as a newbie I can totally see bread dough deforming my decorations so a biscuit of some sort sounds safer. But yes, way more elaborate than my usual pies or garlic buns :/ I'm scared

[@triph]

5:15 Am I having a stroke or did you just say "boil for 30 minutes" here?

[@ChainBaker]

Did I say that? 😬 My bad! It's 30 seconds!

[@BigboiiTone]

Hahahaha!!! My mom said that she heard it and i was like wtf!?!?! Consider it a freudian slip. You know Charlie is the expert but even Van Gogh put one too many brushstrokes

[@AlkonKomm]

just fyi to anybody who wants to make actual pretzels, just buy some bakers lye, its not that expensive and totally worth it baking soda simply doesnt get you the same results, it still tastes pretty good, but definitely not like real pretzels. also: don't boil bakers lye, thats would be a terrible idea (you only need boiling water for the baking soda method)

[@antheeamorgan]

I love your pretzel buns wink wink

[@ChainBaker]

😁

[@RockDog645]

So the steam on the camera lens is becoming a theme now? Not a big fan, tbh 😂😂. Thanks for the video!

[@ChainBaker]

Not much I can do about that. Just pretend that you're wearing glasses 😄

[@shanginn]

I hope nobody boils the buns for 30 minutes as you suggested 🤪

[@ChainBaker]

😅

[@dudea3378]

It's literally your logo 😂

[@zackswitch9656]

Ok I boiled it for 30 minutes, but i feel i did something wrong. After baking they were wet as hell.

[@ChainBaker]

I don't believe you did that. There were two correct written instructions, so there's no way 😄

[@llywyllngryffyn8053]

"The Boiling Process is extremely short, just about 30 MINUTES per side..." You might want to overlay a text tag to let people know that was supposed to be SECONDS :)

[@ChainBaker]

😂 yeah my bad. The written recipe is correct though.

[@halwakka504]

Uhhh. was this re-upped? I see 2 minutes ago, 70 views but months-old comments. Kinda disappointed, thought I'd be finally be able to be the annoyint one who shouts, "first!"

[@ChainBaker]

Early access. If anyone will shout 'first', it'll be a channel member I guess 😄

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

Channel "members" (paid membership vs. free subscribers) get early access to his videos. Sorry you didn't get a chance to shout out "first!!".

[@halwakka504]

@@ChainBakerAhh okay. This looks amazing by the way. If it had been up (well, visible to me) an hour earlier, I probably would've been trying this recipe. Alas, I already have dough proofing. :)

[@halwakka504]

@@Jeepy2-LoveToBakeSome day I'll get it. :D

[@Jeepy2-LoveToBake]

@@halwakka504 👍

[@Ross1of1]

Yesterday, I was looking for a pretzel bun recipe, and I was wishing that the 'ChainBaker' would make one. Here we are today and the recipe appears. I am amazed. I will be giving this a shot tomorrow. I love pretzel buns but here in Toronto they are expensive. But I can make my own very cheaply. Thankyou sir, you are amazing.

[@ChainBaker]

What a coincidence. Awesome! Pretzel loaf coming soon too btw 😎

[@Ross1of1]

@@ChainBaker I have never seen or heard of a Pretzel loaf. But it sounds very good, and I am sure I will be making it too. Can't wait.

[@ChainBaker]

It's just a larger version of this. You must have a big cooking pot to pull it off.

[@Ross1of1]

@@ChainBaker I think I will be ok. I have a very equipped kitchen. I too used to be a chef. So at home I have a pretty big collection of good quality utensils. I make most of my breads in a cast iron multicooker much like yours except it is made by Lagostina rather than Lodge, albeit I do have two Lodge frying pans. I have not seen you use any pot or pan that I don't have. I even have the covered Pullman loaf pan much like yours. I know a restaurant consultant who says that to be a cook you either have to be insane, or it's in the blood. I think I have a little of both. 🤣

[@ChainBaker]

@Ross1of1 😁