Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns

This recipe for Whole Wheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns not only uses sourdough, which makes for a fabulous depth of flavour, but also has a few added secret ingredients to give them maltiness and a little more crunch to the lovely brown crust that makes pretzels so special. The inside is perfectly soft and chewy, as you would expect from your favourite pretzels.

 

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• Why You Will Love This
• The Ingredients
• How to Make This
• Meal Prep

Why You Will Love This 

TL;DR

• Pretzel Perfection – All the classic crispy, salty crust + soft chewy middle—no complicated shaping required.
• German-Approved Upgrade – Like the bakery buns I miss from home, but better: with sourdough, wholewheat, and a few secret flavour boosters.
• Healthier Twist – Lower glycemic index thanks to sourdough + whole wheat = fewer sugar spikes and longer-lasting satisfaction.
• Customizable Tops – Salt is classic, but try caraway (great with cheese!), sesame, poppy, pumpkin seeds—or even a layer of melted cheese.
• Endlessly Versatile – Burger buns, soup dunkers, breakfast sidekicks… you name it.

Basically, everything you love about pretzels in a bun—with more flavour and better-for-you ingredients.

German Approved

Being German, the one main thing I miss living in Ireland are the bakeries. I think I mentioned that before. In particular: Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns for breakfast. Or as burger buns. Or for dipping into soup. Endless possibilities! Meaning, as with so many recipes when it comes to bread, I had to create my own, which tastes like the ones I found in German bakeries. Though I improved it even further.

Sourdough

This recipe for these these buns not only uses my sourdough, which makes for a fabulous depth of flavour, but I also added a few secret ingredients to add maltiness and a little more crunch to the lovely brown crust that makes pretzels so special. The inside is perfectly soft and chewy, as you would expect from your favourite pretzels.

Add Your Favourite Topping

I love these especially when the top is sprinkled not only with the classic salt, but also some caraway seeds, which makes for the perfect combination with cheese. Try it out!
Or add sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, heck, even grated cheese is amazing.

Slightly Healthier

I have been using a similar recipe just with yeast for many years now, but after losing weight (and trying to stay away from and purely white bread) I felt the need for a better version. So I came up with this one: Sourdough means lower glycemic index and with that less of an insulin spike.

I’m not a diabetic, though this would be great for those of you who are, but one of the books I read during my weight loss journe, called “The Obesity Code“* mentioned that insulin is what prompts fat storage in the body. Which means keeping it lower is a good idea for multiple reasons. Adding some whole wheat flour means it keeps you fuller for longer by adding more fibre and nutrition.

Ingredient Notes

• Active sourdough starter – Adds flavor and rise
• White bread flour/ strong flour – Forms the base of the dough and is needed for the softness

Note:

Cups, due to the possibility of compacting the flour while dragging the container through it, can give you wildly different results. Use a tablespoon to gently fill the cup with flour, then drag the back of a knife over it to level. This should give you the closest to the standard 120g per cup of flour.

Alternatively, if you have kitchen scales, assume 120g flour per cup and weigh it out.

In some of my recipes I will give gram measurements for this reason, but I mostly try to accommodate the American cup system.

• Fine whole wheat flour  – don’t use coarse here, or you’ll impact the soft chewy texture. The fine version keeps it lighter. Often called “Pastry Whole Wheat Flour”
• Butter melted and cooled – Gives these buns their characteristic, slightly enriched structure and softness
• Kosher salt – Any baked good needs salt. Pretzel buns more so! I’m using kosher. If you use sea salt, halve the amount given.
• Yeast – While yeast is classic in Pretzel Buns, you could think you can leave it out when using sourdough. And that would probably be true if you’d use only white flour. But adding whole wheat also means we need a little more muscle to get a good rise. Yeast helps with that.

The Secret Ingredients

• For the “secret” bits: I’m adding 2 tsp diasatic malt powder, which I use in most of my bread recipes and often other baking, as it adds both lovely malty flavour and more crunch to the crust. One bag lasts me years.
• Malt extract*: Similar to the above. You can find it in most health food shops. Even in Ireland. It adds again more malt flavour and replaces sugar and honey in bread recipes.
• And my latest find: Vitamin C powder. Now, I realise this sounds unusual, but once you tried it, you’ll love it. It gives the dough added structure and rise, which, if you are using wholemeal flour or rye for example, is a fantastic addition. And again, it adds more crunch to the crust.

For The Boiling

• To achieve the special crust for these Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns, they get boiled in a solution with baking soda for about 30 seconds per side.
• After that sprinkle with salt, and, if you like, with seeds, cut the typical cross into the top (don’t forget that step, or the rise will not be as good) and about 20 minutes later you have fantastic soft and chewie buns, absolutely perfect with some cold butter and a beer.

Equipment Used

Measuring Cups

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stand mixer

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spatula

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baking mat

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bench scraper

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Dutch Oven

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sheet pan

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How to Make this

I realise making your own Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns can feel a bit intimidating at first. But they are just as easy as any sourdough, in that the main part of the work is done by just letting them stand and do their thing, so the healthy yeasts can do their job of making your dough taste incredible and be really good for you too.

Mix the Dough

Making the dough is a matter of mixing wet into dry, then kneading for a while, until you have a nice and elastic dough. If you have a standmixer*, this will be a lot easier. Add the butter last after the autolyse (leaving the dough to stand after the first kneading, to allow the flour to absorb the water), as it can impact the water absorption of the flour.

Rest

Place the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 2-3 hours, or until it has doubled in size. At this point you could also leave it in the fridge over night and take it out a few hours before baking the next morning.

Shape the Rolls and Give Them a Hot Bath

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl onto a floured surface and fold it in thirds once or twice. Divide the dough into 12-16 equal portions (12 makes them about burger bun sized) and shape each portion into a round bun, by folding it into itself to create tension on the surface. This gives the buns their perfect round shape

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add the baking soda bit by bit carefully (this will foam a lot) and stir until it dissolves.

Gently drop the pretzel buns, a few at a time, into the boiling water and let them very softly boil for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove the buns from the water using a slotted spoon and place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Once all the buns have been boiled and transferred to the baking sheet, sprinkle them with the flaky sea salt for added flavour, if desired.

At this point I also add sesame to one half, caraway to the other.

With a sharp knife, slice them crosswise.

Bake

Bake the pretzel buns in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown on top.

Meal Prep

I usually make Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns about once every two months for myself, then freeze most of them in small freezer bags, to heat them up whenever I feel like Pretzel buns. Oven or air fryer work equally well here. Or you could freeze the dough rolls after they had their bath in the baking soda water. But personally I’d be a bit weary of ice crystals forming. Hence after baking for me. I also find that I just love how the crust crunches uo even more with the second bake. 

Other recipes you might enjoy

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

And if you enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating, sharing, or leaving a comment – your feedback truly helps my blog grow!

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