This easy homemade pretzel crackers recipe will be a new staple in your pantry and the star on your next meat and cheese board. Pretzels run in my blood, having grown up in Germany and counting so many pretzel recipes on this blog! And other Germans agree.
Somehow pretzel crackers were missing in my arsenal, so I knew I had to change that. I know you will love these crunchy pretzel crackers as much as we do!
How to make homemade pretzel crackers
I love that these crackers are so easy to make and the method can be adjusted, depending on your needs and how much time you have. There are however a few important steps that should be mentioned to have a successful, crunchy cracker result.
- Chill your butter. This can happen in the fridge or freezer, but make sure you first measure out the right amount before freezing. The best way to integrate the butter into the dough is to grate it into the dry ingredients.
- Use cold water. To keep the dough cold and the butter from melting, use cold water in the dough.
- Don't overwork dough. The butter tends to melt into the dough if your hands are too warm when kneading the dough. Do your best to combine the dough with a fork as much as possible and only use your hands if necessary.
- Chill the dough. It's important to chill the finished dough before cutting the crackers and baking to ensure buttery results.
- Careful when dipping in lye. When preparing your lye solution, stand in a well-ventilated area (outside is best). Do not touch the lye granules and try your best not to touch the lye solution, either. Metal tools will be your best friend for combining the solution (whisk) and dipping the crackers (skimmer). Discard the solution in your kitchen drain and run cold water after it.
- Bake in batches. Don't overstuff your oven with crackers. Instead, bake in 2 batches.
- Cool before storing. The crackers will only stay crispy when stored AFTER allowing them to cool completely. The crackers keep for one week when stored airtight at room temperature.
Ingredients
You only need a few ingredients for making pretzel crackers at home and you likely have most of them on hand already.
- Flour. I use all-purpose flour for most of my baking and buy it in bulk from Costco.
- Baking Powder. To add fluffy texture.
- Sugar. The granulated kind.
- Salt. I used a mineral rock salt.
- Butter. It gives amazing flavor to these crackers and you can optionally brush on more melted butter after baking for an extra butter taste.
- Oil. I use avocado oil, but any flavor-neutral oil will work well in this cracker recipe.
- Lye. This is the one ingredient you will need to think about getting ahead of time. I make sure it's the kind that comes with a child-proof, tight-fitting lid as no humidity must get mixed in with the lye granules. Treat it like medicine and store it away from anywhere kids can get to it.
- Toppings. I like topping my crackers with sesame seeds and sometimes pretzel salt. Grated cheese would be amazing on them too and you can also use any other kinds of seeds you love.
Pretzel crackers on a meat and cheese board
The best way to serve homemade pretzel crackers is to place them on a board with some meats and cheeses. My favorite German-style butcher (located in NYC) just launched a few amazing summer sausage flavors (one of them featuring Mike's Hot Honey) and you MUST give them a try. Okay, the Hickory Smoked summer sausage also needs to go in your cart.
Use code DIRNDL10 for 10% off your entire order (and don't forget to add Teewurst, Leberwurst, and their award-winning Cooked Bratwurst to your cart before checking out).
More pretzel recipes
Did I mention I am a pretzel fanatic? A few favorite pretzel recipes are the classic and life-changing German Brezel, pretzel beer bubble bread, and Ditsch copycat ham and cheese pretzels. And don't forget to make some Obatzda, a Bavarian beer cheese spread. It would be perfect on a meat and cheese board with the crackers, too.
I even started the popular German Pretzel School, an immersive baking program for pretzel making. Get on the waitlist now for the next time enrollment opens.
Pretzel Cracker Recipe
Equipment
- Silicone Baking Mats these work best because the pretzel coating makes these crackers stick to parchment paper
- Parchment Paper OR spray non-stick spray onto parchment paper to avoid the crackers to stick
- Skimmer For dipping crackers in lye solution
- Steel or glass bowl For lye solution
Ingredients
Cracker Dough
- 140 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 40 grams butter cold
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or other vegetable oil
- 60 milliliters water cold
Lye Dip
- 300 milliliters water cold
- 12 grams food-grade lye
Toppings
- pretzel salt for topping, optional
- sesame seeds for topping, optional
Instructions
- Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.140 grams all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoons sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Grate the cold butter (straight from the fridge, or even better from the freezer) into the dry ingredient mix and stir.40 grams butter
- Stir in the oil and water until the mixture forms a dough.1 tablespoon avocado oil, 60 milliliters water
- The dough should be wet. Wrap up airtight and chill in the fridge for one hour or up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or reusable silicone baking mats.
- I find it easiest to work with portions of the dough rather than the entire dough at once. Roll out thinly (around ⅛ of an inch or ¼ cm). You can now either cut out shapes of your choice or circles OR simply cut up the cracker sheet into squares or rectangles.Cutting up the dough (with a knife or pizza cutter) is definitely much quicker and I will be doing it this way next time.You could also create a log and cut it into thin crackers (for example, using a wire cheese slicer if you have one).
- Prepare your lye solution. In a well ventilated ares (such as under a running vent hood OR ideally outside, add lye granules (be careful not to touch them) into COLD water, not the other way around. Whisk until the granules have dissolved and the solution is clear, about 30 seconds. Using the skimmer, dip your crackers in batches of 5ish crackers for about 5 seconds. Remove using the skimmer as well.300 milliliters water, 12 grams food-grade lye
- Transfer the dipped crackers to a baking sheet that's either been prepped with parchment paper AND sprayed with a non-stick spray OR rubbed with oil.Alternatively, and this is what I do when baking all my pretzels, you can use reusable silicone baking mats.
- Poke holes all over the dough with a toothpick or fork. Sprinkle with some pretzel salt or seeds (I love using sesame seeds).Bake for 13 min in 2 batches. The crackers should be medium to dark brown.pretzel salt, sesame seeds
- Transfer to a cooling rack until cool before storing in an airtight container at room temperature. The pretzel crackers stay good for one week when stored this way.
G
Hi! Does it work without lye?
dirndlkitchen
In order to get the authentic pretzel taste, I really recommend using lye.
dirndlkitchen
I hope you love my pretzel cracker recipe as much as we do! I love that these can be cut into squares to make it faster and reduce any wasted dough! When you make them, please let me know what you think in the comments! 🙂