There is a new kid on the block joining the famous and popular German pretzel family - soft pretzel corners, aka Laugenecken. Delicious buttery dough, sprinkled with coarse salt, with striking layers that are impressive and fun to eat.

These soft and salty pretzel corner pastries are perfect for breakfast, as a quick on-the-go snack as well as a coveted item on the cold buffet.
๐ฅจWhat are soft pretzel corners?
Soft pretzel corners are a type of baked pastry (commonly twisted into a knot), shaped or sliced into triangles. These corners have visible layers that look striking, plus they are super fun to separate and eat.
You will find Brezel, Breze, or Brezn (Bavarian) in the display window of many German bakeries every day: pretzel corners, buns or rolls, pretzel knots, pretzel bread, bites, sticks - you name it!
But these hearty pastries, which are mainly native to southern Germany, have their high season from mid-September to early October during the Munich Oktoberfest.
Pretzels not only go well with beer, but they are also suitable as part of an extensive Sunday breakfast, as a hearty afternoon snack or for a substantial nibble in the evening.
If you now fancy the golden-brown corner pastries and would like to bake them yourself, you will find the right recipe here.
๐ Ingredients and Notes
You may find the ingredients already in your pantry. For the pretzel dough you need the following:
๐ช Instructions
These soft pastries are easy to make.
Step 1
- Mix the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a bowl.
- Add the flour, salt, and softened butter.
- Knead until smooth ball forms.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place.
Step 2
- Punch down the dough and kneed shortly
- Cut into eight pieces.
- Form each part into a ball.
- Roll out each ball onto a circle.
Step 3
- Spread butter ever each of seven circles.
- Stack them on top of each other with the unbuttered circle on top. Cut the stack into eight wedges.
- Dip the corners shortly into the lye bath (simmering water and baking soda).
- Place onto a baking sheet, sprinkle with coarse salt, and bake until golden.
- Take the butter (a total of 8 tbsp.) out of the refrigerator ahead of time. You want it to be really soft, but not liquid. If you forgot, melt one tablespoon to mix into the dough and keep the rest on the counter to soften while your dough is rising.
- I used fast rising instant yeast, but you can use rapid rise or yeast you like. Here's a good explanation of yeast types.
- The dough will rise faster if you keep it in a warm place. Place it close to the stove if you have something cooking or in a sunny spot somewhere. I sometimes heat my oven to 175F, place the bowl inside, and keep the door ajar. Just make sure your bowl is heat resistant even though the oven temperature is low. To be safe, don't use plastic or glass bowls. ๐
- You don't have to be precise when rolling the dough out in circles. Keep in mind that the larger the circles, the thinner the corners will turn out. I rolled them to around 8 inches.
- Do not keep the corners in the lye bath for longer than 20 seconds. Gently put them in with a slotted spatula and gently remove. Alternatively, you can brush the lye all over the pretzel corners with a pastry brush.
- Some layers might slide off. Don't worry - carefully place them back where they belong. They'll stick to each other while baking.
- Do not use table salt to sprinkle on top of pretzels. If you don't have large-grained salt, leave them as is or top them with sesame, sunflower, or poppy seeds as an alternative.
- Oven temperatures vary. Make sure to check on the corners during the last 5 minutes of baking and adjust the time accordingly. Best to use the convection bake setting if available.
๐ฝ How To Serve It
Soft pretzel corners are utterly delicious on their own but smeared with butter or with homemade cheese, they are pure bliss.
They are also often served with dipping sauces such as honey mustard or cheddar sauce. Try them with beer and cheddar soup too, it's a delight!
โ Frequently Asked Questions
Pretzel salt is usually kosher salt, a large-grained version of table salt without the added iodine.
Regular table salt will dissolve on top of the moist corner, so I wouldn't suggest it. Coarse sea salt for pickling is also a great option.
Lye is a high pH alkaline solution that is characteristic of the browning effect during baking; the higher the pH, the stronger the reaction. You can buy lye agents, but baking soda is more natural and safer.
They taste best fresh, but you can still enjoy them the next day or the day after. To warm up pretzels, microwave them in increments of 10 seconds.
๐งUse up leftover pretzel salt in this recipe:
Liked this recipe? Leave a โญโญโญโญโญ rating and/or a review in the comments section. Your feedback is always appreciated! Stay in touch through Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook! Don't forget to sign up for my email list below too!
German Soft Pretzel Corners - Laugenecken Recipe
EQUIPMENT
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 8 tablespoon softened butter
- Coarse salt
For the lye bath
- ยผ cup baking soda
- 8 cups water
Instructions
- In a bowl of your standing mixer (or a large bowl), with a whisk or a fork, stir together 2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1 cup of water until yeast and sugar have dissolved completely.
- Add 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon soft butter. With a dough hook attachment (or your hands), knead the dough until a smooth and elastic ball forms. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
- Transfer dough to a clean surface, punch it down, and, with your hands, knead for a minute. Using a knife or a pastry cutter/scraper, slice the dough into eight equal pieces as you would cut a pie (cut first in half, then into quarters and finally into eighths). Form each part into a small ball. With a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a circle (around 8-in in diameter).
- Spread 1 tablespoon each of the soft butter onto seven circles, leaving the eight unbuttered. Stack dough circles, buttered side up, on top of each other with the last circle being the one without the butter. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large pot, bring ยผ cup baking soda and 8 cups of water to a simmer.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator. Slice again into eight wedges. Working in batches, carefully submerge the corners into the simmering lye bath and allow floating for about 20 seconds, turning over once. With a slotted turner/spatula, gently transfer dough corners to drain then place onto the prepared baking sheet with a little space between them.
- Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake for about 20 minutes or until a rich brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. Enjoy!
Notes
- Take the butter (a total of 8 tbsp) out of the refrigerator ahead of time. You want it to be really soft, but not liquid. If you forgot, melt one tablespoon to mix into the dough and keep the rest on the counter to soften while your dough is rising.
- I used fast rising instant yeast, but you can use rapid rise or yeast you like. Here's a good explanation of yeast types.
- The dough will rise faster if you keep it in a warm place. Place it close to the stove if you have something cooking or in a sunny spot somewhere. I sometimes heat my oven to 175F, place the bowl inside, and keep the door ajar. Just make sure your bowl is heat resistant even though the oven temperature is low. To be safe, don't use plastic or glass bowls. ๐
- You don't have to be precise when rolling the dough out in circles. Keep in mind that the larger the circles, the thinner the corners will turn out. I rolled them to around 8 inches.
- Do not keep the corners in the lye bath for longer than 20 seconds. Gently put them in with a slotted spatula and gently remove. Alternatively, you can brush the lye all over the pretzel corners with a pastry brush.
- Some layers might slide off. Don't worry - carefully place them back where they belong. They'll stick to each other while baking.
- Do not use table salt to sprinkle on top of pretzels. If you don't have large-grained salt, leave them as is or top them with sesame, sunflower, or poppy seeds as an alternative.
- Oven temperatures vary. Make sure to check on the corners during the last 5 minutes of baking and adjust the time accordingly. Best to use the convection bake setting if available.
Cheryl Page says
These are kind of fun. They're not pretzels, but they're fun to eat. Next time I would add the course salt to a layer in the middle so you are more likely to get salt in every bite.
I have a problem with this recipe because the layers slid all around in the oven. I refrigerated the corners for 40 minutes (more than the recipe called for) and the butter still melted too quickly and caused the layers to slide back. 20-30 minutes of refrigeration is not nearly enough.
To Ali, who said the dough was dry, I had to add 2-3 tablespoons of water to the dough.
To all of you who give five stars to a recipe you haven't made, stop it!
Natalie says
I agree. I had to add more water into the dough as well because it was on the dry side and the layers slid while baking. A touch of salt between the layers or salted butter would have levelled up the flavour further. Otherwise, a fun bread to eat - the kids enjoyed it!
Miriam says
Hi! I havenโt made the recipe yet but I have a question. The recipe says only 1 tablespoon of butter is needed but the notes say 8 tablespoons. Is it a tablespoon of butter per corner? (8 in total)
Jas says
Oh, thanks for catching my error. It is 8 tablespoons butter in total - one for making the dough and 7 for buttering the layers (last one stays unbuttered). ๐
Ali says
Dough was too dry/flaky to work with. Broke when I tried to roll it out into circles and just decided to toss the dough. This was with additional water added! What a waste of time.
Jas says
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you as it did for so many other happy readers.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Jas these pretzels look out of this world! Those layers and the crunchy top. Got this on the snack menu plan for this week.
Jas says
Thank you! Let me know how you like them. ๐
Denay DeGuzman says
What a beautiful creative recipe! I can almost smell and taste these delicious soft pretzel corners. I'm so excited to make these with my daughter this weekend!
Jas says
Thank you, Denay! I hope you'll enjoy them as much as we did! ๐
Anjali says
This recipe looks so good! I've actually never heard of making pretzels this way but I cannot wait to try them! I feel like my kids would love them!
Jas says
Leave it to the Germans, lol. Kids and adults alike love them. Thanks for stopping in! xx
Sally says
These are fabulous! Love pretzel bread but never heard of laugenecken before seeing your recipe on Facebook ... love the flaky layers and tender texture. Goes great with homemade dip!
Jas says
Thank you, Sally! They do go great with homemade dip. ๐
Krissy Allori says
These look so amazing. What a creative recipe. I can't wait to give it a try very very soon.
Jas says
Thanks, Krissy! Enjoy! xx
Shannon says
Wow! I have never heard of these before but they look so tasty. I'm pinning your recipe so I can remember to come back here and make it later. Thank you for the step-by-step instructions and photos, I'm sure it will be a huge help!
Jas says
You're so welcome, Shannon! Feel free to drop me a note if you have any additional questions. Thanks for visiting and pinning! โค
Emily says
I loved these so much when I was in living in Hamburg. Thanks so much for this recipe I miss laugenecken so much I can taste them as I am writing this. Lecker!
Jas says
So glad you found them! They were my favorite, too, while I lived in Germany. ๐ Lecker, indeed!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Loving all of these layers of deliciousness! I know the boys are going to want this asap! This is so creative. By any chance , did you save me a wedge? Sharing to all of our favorite boards.
Jas says
Thank you, my dear! Sorry, but they were gone fast, lol. xx