Pretzel Pizza Crust

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If German chef and an Italian pizzaiolo were to get married, they might find themselves developing an Oktoberfest pretzel pizza crust recipe! As a fan of German cuisine, I just think of how lucky their kids would be! Let’s make some of that luck ourselves and make our own Oktoberfest pizza!

Pretzel Pizza Crust

Among German cuisines, the pretzel is a well established hit in North America. And the past decade has seen the pretzel cross over into all sorts of foods from burger buns, sandwiches, and pizza (seemingly first created by Little Caesar’s in 2014). Like the McRib, this cult-classic dish is only available periodically – but not for us!

Let’s learn how to celebrate Oktoberfest at home with our Pretzel Pizza Crust Recipe!

What Is Oktoberfest Pizza?

Okay, well there’s no direct relation to pizza here, but since we’re celebrating a fusion of two delicious bread cuisines, let’s spend a minute on the history of this German cultural event.

Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich, on October 12, 1810, to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It was initially focused around a grand horse race but the event’s success inspired the decision to repeat it annually.

The event has since evolved into a massive festival, celebrating Bavarian culture, featuring traditional German music, dances, games, beer, and food – and the reason we’re talking about it: pretzels!

Today, Oktoberfest starts in the third weekend in September and ends the first Sunday of October.

More About Pretzels!

Pretzel in hand
A glorious pretzel! (Image from PickPic)

If you’re anything like us, you love pretzel everything. But where did they come from?

Well like many things from Europe’s Middle Ages, the exact details are a little lost in the sands of time. But one popular tale gives the credit for inventing the pretzel to a European monk (possibly Italian or French) around 610 A.D. It is said that the monk crafted this twisted baked good as a reward for children who learned their prayers. He named it “pretiola,” which means “little reward” in Latin. The three holes in the pretzel are said to represent the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The pretzel became a “holy pastry” (accurate!).

That makes sense – those monks had to have something to go with the beer they were brewing! And even if that’s just a fable, the truth is that pretzels are heavenly!

Over time, pretzels have become a staple of German cuisine. They have numerous forms today – soft, hard, salty, sweet, and even stuffed. In fact, pretzels have been used as a symbol for bakers (and previously their guilds) in southern parts of Germany as far back as the 12th century when they helped defend Vienna during a Turkish siege where they “fought like lions”.

Example of the Baker's Symbol featuring a pretzel and lions.
Example of a Baker’s Symbol of the Pretzel. (Image from WikiMedia Commons user: 4028mdk09)

So What Is Pretzel Crust Pizza?

Oktoberfest Pretzel Pizza Crust Recipe

Well, this evolution appears to be much more recent and seemingly the invention of Little Caesar’s Pizza, as mentioned.

But simply put, this is a change to the preparation of the pizza crust that develops the crust into a delicious, soft, salty pretzel.

And it’s a lot easier than you think!

What Do I Need for My Pretzel Pizza Recipe?

Interestingly enough, there’s only one ingredient you need that’s different from your typical pizza: baking soda. We’ll get into the details of how to use it shortly, but there are a couple of other noteworthy tips as well:

  • Using bread flour is generally a better choice given the fermentation time and structure desired.
  • Although you CAN use any salt for your pizza crust, large flakes of high quality salt are such a distinctive characteristic of pretzels, you really should use them in favor of finer grain salts.
  • And although not essential, you will likely want to consider some of the classic pretzel pairings when deciding on your pizza toppings (or dips for your crust):
    • Whole grain or Dijon mustard
    • Cheddar cheese
    • Carmel sauce
    • Bratwurst
  • Tomato sauce? Pizza sauce? Optional. It will make the center of your pizza more conventional to use a red sauce. But if you’re all about the pretzel, try going with a pizza bianca and just use a light layer of olive oil in the center. Maybe a couple dollops or swirls of mustard on top?

Ingredients You Need for the Pretzel Pizza Crust

Easy Peasy Pizza Crust Ingredients
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons (one envelope) of active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 cup of warm water between 100-110 F
  • 2 ½ cups of bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1-2 teaspoons of coarse grain salt flakes (to your taste)
  • Other toppings to your preference.

For the baking soda “bath”:

  • 1 tablespoon of baking soda
  • 1/2 cup very hot water

How To Make a Pretzel Pizza Crust

Pretzel Pizza Crust - no Sauce
This version of our Oktoberfest pizza without pizza sauce and with little dollops of mustard on top.

Pretzels are not very different from pizza dough. But there is a critical step that is needed to make pretzels what they are – and that’s adding a highly basic wash to the dough before baking. There’s a great article on King Arthur Baking’s website on this.

Most recipes I found online for making a pretzel pizza crust included the very challenging step of immersing a fully formed dough disk into boiling water and then fishing it out without destroying it or burning your hands. A few commenters posted how this isn’t easy, and I’m sure it’s not.

Knowing that the goal is to wash the pizza dough in the hot baking soda water, I opted to heat the water to near boiling and use a basting brush to apply it very liberally to the pizza in the pan and then parbaking (partially baking it) until the water boiled off. I then pulled it out of the oven, reapplied just to the outer edge before adding salt and the rest of the toppings, then back in the oven to finish. This was far easier and safer while still achieving the exact results!

For your dough recipe, I’ll provide one below, but you could do this with other dough recipes including our Easy Peasy Dough (which uses bread flour also) or, if you want to be even more indulgent, you could use our dough made with beer (which also uses bread flour)!

Steps for Making Your Oktoberfest Pizza

So far, we’ve only done this recipe in a conventional oven, but we’ll be working on an outdoor pizza oven version. The trick will be to determine if if the best time to top the pizza. But it’s worth noting that pretzel dough is generally always done at 400F. A couple of iterations to explore!

Making the Dough

Pretzel Pizza Crust 10
Dough ball just after mixing.
Pretzel Pizza Crust 19
Dough ball after 1 hour of fermenting.
  1. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Ensure your water is between 100-110 F. Hotter water will kill your yeast, and colder water will make it take much longer to activate (although you will not get a lot of rise with this dough).
  2. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. You do not want the salt to touch the yeast directly, as it will kill it.
  3. After the yeast, sugar, and water mixture is creamy, add in the flour and salt mixture, about ½ cup at a time, incorporating it. Alternate between adding the flour and olive oil, beginning and ending with flour. Reserve about 1 teaspoon of your olive oil to oil your pan and your hands later.
  4. After all the ingredients are incorporated, let it rest for one hour. This allows the dough to really rise and develop a great structure.
  5. If you are going to add a sliced bratwurst to the pizza, this is the time to do it. I recommend using a fork to poke holes and let the extra grease escape during cooking.
Pretzel Pizza Crust 16
Using a fork to puncture while cooking will allow the excess fat to escape.

Preparing the Pizza Dough

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Lightly oil your pizza pan to help avoid sticking.
  • Liberally dust flour on your work surface.
  • Dust your hands in flour and press the dough into a circular shape onto a pizza pan. Try not to press the air out of the crust (especially not the edges).
  • Because of the fermenting time, the dough should be very easy to stretch by hand. But if you are using a rolling pin, do not let it touch the edges – otherwise the crust will not keep its pretzel shape.
Spreading this dough should be easy to do by hand without a rolling pin.
The hour of proofing time will make the dough easy to work with. You can get it very thin in the middle but it’s very important to preserve the air in the outer edge of the crust.

Baking Soda “Bath”

Baste the entire pizza with baking soda water before parbaking for 5 minutes.
Use a basting brush to liberally apply the baking soda water until the dough is glistening.
  1. Add the baking soda to the 1/2 cup of water before heating the water.
  2. Warm the water/baking soda in a pot or the microwave to near boiling (>180 F). Hotter water is closer to the proper baking soda bath a pretzel would normally have and will evaporate faster in the oven.
  3. Use a basting brush to liberally coat the entire pizza in the baking soda water. Start at the crust edge and make sure you cover it enough that the dough is glistening.Move to the center and continue to apply liberally.For good measure, apply a second coating to the outer edge of the crust.
  4. Place the pizza and pan in the oven for 5 minutes (this is parbaking).
  5. Remove the pizza pan from the oven. Keep the oven on.
  6. Using the basting brush, reapply the water to the crust edge only.
  7. Add the coarse grain salt flakes to the crust and gently press the salt flakes into the dough so that they will stick.
Pretzel Pizza 2 10
After 5 minutes of baking (parbaking), remove the pan and reapply the baking soda water to just the outer crust before pressing salt flakes into the outer edge. Then add the rest of your toppings.

Pretzel Pizza Crust Recipe Finishing Touches

Pretzel pizza out of the oven. Wait 3 minutes before cutting.
  • Bake for an additional 18 minutes the pretzel crust has turned brown. You’ll likely want to rotate the pizza in the oven halfway to ensure even cooking.
  • Remove the pizza from the oven and let stand for at least 3 minutes. Prepare any dips you might serve with the pizza, such as mustard, cheese dip, or caramel.
  • Cut and serve!
Octoberfest Pretzel Pizza Recipe with mustard and German Weiss beer.
Our Oktoberfest Pretzel Pizza Recipe (with sauce) served with a dollop of mustard on the side and a traditional German Weiss beer to accompany it!
Oktoberfest Pretzel Pizza Crust Recipe

Oktoberfest Pretzel Pizza Recipe

Todd Mitchell
This pizza dough springboards from our Easy Peasy recipe but uses longer fermentation and the baking soda wash to create the pretzel pizza crust!
No ratings yet
Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Resting Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, German, Italian
Servings 1 14″ pizza
Calories 2032 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Stand Mixer Optional
  • 1 Pizza Cutter
  • 1 Basting Brush

Ingredients
  

Pizza Dough

  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 cup water warm, between 100°F and 110°F
  • 2 ½ cups bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt fine table salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Baking Soda Baste

  • 1 tbsp Baking Soda
  • ½ cup Water Nearly boiling

Pizza Toppings (except for the salt, all are optional)

  • 1 tbsp salt course flake
  • ½ cup Cheddar Cheese grated
  • ½ cup pizza sauce optional – 2 tbsp of olive oil can be used instead for pizza bianca version
  • 1 bratwurst precooked and sliced
  • 1 tbsp mustard coarse grain or Dijon are likely preferred over yellow

Instructions
 

Making the Pizza Dough

  • Ensure your 1 cup of water is between 100-110 F. Hotter water will kill your yeast, and colder water will make it take much longer to activate.
  • In a medium bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon of yeast in the 1 cup of water. Whisk and let stand for 5 minutes to ensure the yeast is active and alive.
  • Slowly add 1 cup of flour, incorporating it into the dough.
  • Add the fine salt to the dough and continue to mix.
  • Add 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil, reserving 0.5 tablespoons to oil your pizza pan. Continue to mix.
  • Add the final 1 1/2 cup of flour and continue mixing. The dough should be solid and not too sticky to work with your hands. If necessary, add small amounts of additional flour until you can work the dough without it pulling apart sticking to your hands.
  • After all the ingredients are incorporated, cover with a damp cloth for 1 hour.
  • If you are going to use a bratwurst, cook it now either on a grill or in a frying pan. It will likely be better if you poke it with a fork to let excess oil escape rather than end up in the pizza. Allow to cool and then slice.

Prepare to Cook the Pizza

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Lightly oil your pizza pan to help avoid sticking.
  • Now that the dough has rested for an hour, lightly oil your hands and press the dough into a circular shape onto a pizza pan. Try not to press the air out of the crust (especially not the edges).
    Because of the fermenting time, the dough should be very easy to stretch by hand. But if you are using a rolling pin, do not let it touch the edges – otherwise the crust will not keep its pretzel shape.
    Spreading this dough should be easy to do by hand without a rolling pin.

Baking Soda Application

  • Add the baking soda to the 1/2 cup of water before heating the water.
  • Warm the water/baking soda in a pot or the microwave to near boiling (>180 F). Hotter water is closer to the proper baking soda bath a pretzel would normally have and will evaporate faster in the oven.
  • Use a basting brush to liberally coat the entire pizza in the baking soda water. Start at the crust edge and make sure you cover it enough that the dough is glistening.
    Move to the center and continue to apply liberally.
    For good measure, apply a second coating to the outer edge of the crust.
    Baste the entire pizza with baking soda water before parbaking for 5 minutes.
  • Place the pizza and pan in the oven for 5 minutes (this is parbaking).
  • Remove the pizza pan from the oven. Keep the oven on.
  • Using the basting brush, reapply the water to the crust edge only.
    Second basting of the crust with baking soda water.
  • Add the coarse grain salt flakes to the crust and gently press the salt flakes into the dough so that they will stick.
  • Top with the other pizza toppings you've chosen, such as the bratwurst, cheddar cheese, pizza sauce, and/or mustard.
  • Bake for an additional 18 minutes the pretzel crust has turned brown. You'll likely want to rotate the pizza in the oven halfway to ensure even cooking.
  • Remove the pizza from the oven and let stand for at least 3 minutes. Prepare any dips you might serve with the pizza, such as mustard, cheese dip, or caramel.
    Oktoberfest Pretzel Pizza Crust Recipe
  • Cut and serve!
    Octoberfest Pretzel Pizza Recipe with mustard and German Weiss beer.

Notes

Nutritional facts are for one full pizza with all of the optional toppings included.

Nutrition

Calories: 2032kcalCarbohydrates: 240gProtein: 70gFat: 87gSaturated Fat: 27gPolyunsaturated Fat: 9gMonounsaturated Fat: 42gCholesterol: 140mgSodium: 12223mgPotassium: 1169mgFiber: 11gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1120IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 522mgIron: 5mg
Keyword Pizza Dough, Pretzel
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Pretzel Pizza Crust

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