Duluth’s Best Bread, a German/French bakery known for its German pretzels and crusty German-style bread, has baked what they believe to be the largest pretzel in Minnesota. The pretzel is 17 pounds and over 3 feet wide. 

The idea came to co-owner Michael Lillegard when he was making a batch of pretzels in the bakery’s new kitchen. After purchasing the old Blacklist Brewery building downtown (120 E Superior St) as a second location, he installed a large French bread oven.

“I started thinking, I’ve made really big pretzels before,” Lillegard said. “I thought, I have a bigger oven now. Let’s see how big I can go.”

The pretzel is the same dough as the bakery’s regular German pretzel—though since this particular pretzel is 17 pounds, Lillegard had to brush lye on instead of dipping it. It is now on display in the bakery’s cafe upstairs. Michael’s brother and co-owner, Robert Lillegard, says it’s been popular with tourists.

“A lot of people have pointed and said, ‘wow’,” Lillegard says. “People get take their picture taken in front of it. We even had a guy from Germany come in and get excited about it.”

The bakery also sells regular Big Fat German Pretzels both over the counter and at various local venues. Sir Ben’s, Ursa Minor, Blacklist Brewing, Wild State Cider, Boreal House, Duluth Tap Exchange, Tap on Tower, Player’s Club, and Ace’s on 29th all carry the pretzel.

This isn’t Duluth’s Best Bread’s first foray into quirky Germany connections. In 2017, they became the first business in Minnesota to be officially endorsed by Germany’s number one ranked arm wrestler, Matthias “Hellboy” Schlitte.

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