The same dough and baking procedure with lye and salt is used to make other kinds of 'lye pastry' ( Laugengebäck): lye rolls, buns, croissants, and even loaves ( Laugenbrötchen, Laugenstangen, Laugen croissants, Laugenbrot). In Bavaria, lye pretzels accompany a main dish, such as Weisswurst sausage. Some bakeries offer pretzels made of different flours, such as whole wheat, rye or spelt. Sesame, poppy, sunflower, pumpkin, or caraway seeds, melted cheese, and bacon bits are other popular toppings. Butter-filled pretzels are also commonly sold under this name. Often, they are sliced horizontally, buttered, and sold as Butterbrezel, or come with slices of cold meats or cheese. Baked for consumption on the same day, they are sold in every bakery and in special booths or stands in downtown streets. Examples for pretzel names in various Upper-German dialects are Breze, Brezn, Bretzel, Brezzl, Brezgen, Bretzga, Bretzet, Bretschl, Kringel, Silserli, and Sülzerli. Lye pretzels are popular in southern Germany, Alsace, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland as a variety of bread, a side dish or a snack, and come in many local varieties. Pretzel baking has most firmly taken root in the region of Franconia and adjoining Upper German-speaking areas, and pretzels have been an integral part of German baking traditions for centuries.

Like the holes in the hubs of round Finnish flat bread, ruisreikäleipä, which let them be hung on poles suspended just below the kitchen ceiling, the loops in pretzels may have served a practical purpose: bakers could hang them on sticks, for instance, projecting upwards from a central column, as shown in a painting by Job Berckheyde (1630–1693) from around 1681. Pretzels were hidden on Easter morning just as eggs are hidden today, and are particularly associated with Lent, fasting and prayers before Easter. As time passed, pretzels became associated with both Lent and Easter. Pretzels made with a simple recipe using only flour and water could be eaten during Lent when Christians were forbidden to eat eggs, lard, or dairy products such as milk and butter (cf. Within the Christian Church, pretzels were regarded as having religious significance for both ingredients and shape. A 12th century illustration of the banquet of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus in the Hortus deliciarum from the Alsace region (today France) may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel. The pretzel has been in use as an emblem of bakers and formerly their guilds in southern German areas since at least the 12th century. The German name ' Brezel' may derive also from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for 'bracelet'), or bracchiola ('little arms'). In Germany, there are stories that pretzels were the invention of desperate bakers held hostage by local dignitaries. Another source locates the invention in a monastery in southern France. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' ('little reward')'. n Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. According to some narratives, as cited by several sources, including The History of Science and Technology, by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, in 610 AD '. There are numerous accounts regarding the origin of pretzels, as well as the origin of the name most state that they have Christian backgrounds and were invented by European monks. Pretzel depicted at a banquet of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus.

Pretzel snacks