I have made these delightful pretzels, (no subtitle pun intended) and the prep is same as bread, the mix, rise, and handling of the dough is the same for bread, and the baking is the same. The hot lye (proffesional) or baking soda bath is merely to give it a hard skin, and lye actually imparts a flavor, but this is really no different that the many bakers tricks that are used for crust and appearance in other forms of bread that are all clearly just called bread. So mitzad atzmo, it is a hamotzi.
From another angle, these were commonly sold in kiosks to be eaten on the go, which would give it a “snack profile”. This ignores however, the age-old Jewish abhorrence for public, casual or mindless eating. A person sensitive to the etiquette of chazal, would be kovea seuda, and relish the 6 brochos that come with krich rifta.