Enjoying a soft pretzel without flour, oven or dairy is the little challenge this recipe takes on. The dough is made from sunflower seeds blended with ground flaxseed and a little honey: it is rolled into long ropes, then knotted exactly like the Alsatian pretzel. All that is left is to choose the coating: savoury with sesame, poppy seeds and garlic, sweet with cinnamon, or spicy with a plant-based cheese flavour and jalapeño. A fun project to make together, and one that always intrigues guests.
Raw sunflower seed pretzels with three coatings
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Ingredients
Pretzel dough
- 140 g hulled sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 4 tablespoons runny honey
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Sesame, poppy seed and garlic coating
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Cinnamon and coconut sugar coating
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons coconut sugar, finely ground
Cheese and jalapeño version
- 1 batch of the basic dough
- 60 g jalapeño, finely chopped
- 60 g nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Method
- Blend the sunflower seeds and ground flaxseed in a food processor until you get a flour.
- Add the salt, then, with the motor running, drizzle in the honey.
- As soon as the dough forms a ball, stop the processor, press it together between your hands and cut it into four.
- On a work surface lined with baking paper, roll each piece into a rope about 1 cm thick and 30 cm long, tapering the ends slightly.
- Form a U, cross the two ends over each other, then fold them down onto the rounded base, like a classic pretzel. Press gently to seal.
- For the sesame-poppy seed coating, mix the ingredients in a bowl and press each pretzel into it, face down.
- For the sweet coating, grind the cinnamon and coconut sugar in a coffee grinder, then roll the pretzels in it.
- For the cheese-jalapeño version, blend the basic dough with the jalapeño, nutritional yeast and salt until it forms a ball again, then shape in the same way.
Tip
For a slightly firmer surface, put the shaped pretzels in the dehydrator for 2 to 3 hours at 41 °C: the inside stays soft. The savoury ones are great dipped in a creamy sauce of soaked cashews blended with red pepper, lemon juice and nutritional yeast.
FAQ: your questions about raw pretzels
What is the difference between a pretzel and a bretzel?
Originally, they are the same baked good: bretzel is the Alsatian and German name, pretzel the English form popularised in the United States. In everyday use, the word pretzel often refers to the small, dry, crunchy snacks sold in bags, and bretzel to the large, soft bakery version. This raw recipe borrows the knotted shape of the bretzel, with a sunflower seed dough.
What is sunflower seed flour?
It is simply hulled sunflower seeds ground to a powder in a food processor or a grinder. Rich in fat, it quickly forms a supple dough as soon as a liquid binder is added, which makes it ideal for shaping raw pretzels. Blend in short pulses: if you go on for too long, it turns into a butter.
What gives pretzels their flavour?
The traditional pretzel owes its flavour and brown crust to an alkaline bath before baking, and then to the coarse salt sprinkled on top. In this raw version, with no baking and no bath, the flavour comes from the sunflower seed itself and above all from the coating: sesame, poppy seeds, garlic and onion for a savoury touch, or cinnamon and coconut sugar for an indulgent version.
Which country does the pretzel come from?
The pretzel is associated with southern Germany, Alsace and, more broadly, German-speaking countries, where it has been found in bakeries since the Middle Ages. Its highly recognisable knotted shape became the emblem of bakers in these regions. It then travelled with emigrants to North America, where it became known as the pretzel.
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