If you want to flavour the pretzels, sprinkle with a little cumin seeds or caraway seeds before they are baked in the oven. Makes 8 large pretzels but you can shape into knots or just roll them into sticks.
ingredients
Dough
Baking Soda Solution
directions
Add warm water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let sit until foaming, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Sift together 1½ cups flour, sugar and salt onto parchment paper or into medium bowl. Add flour mixture and butter to yeast mixture in the stand mixer. Mix dough in the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook on medium speed, about 3 to 5 minutes. If necessary, with a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the flour. Sift 1 cup flour, add to dough and mix in. If the dough is still really sticky, add remaining ¼ cup flour.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with saran wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Punch down the dough and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough with the palms of your hands until the piece is approximately 22-inches long. Form each long piece into a pretzel shape or leave shape as is to make pretzel sticks.
Transfer pretzels to prepared baking sheets leaving 1 1/2-inch space between pretzels (about 4 pretzels per baking sheet). Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
In a large non-reactive pot, bring water and baking soda to a boil.
Carefully add 4 pretzels, right side up, to the boiling baking soda solution with a slotted spoon. Flip the pretzel over. The pretzels are n the solution for only about 20 seconds total time. Carefully transfer pretzels back to baking sheet, right side, spaced apart and 4 per sheet. Sprinkle each pretzel generously with coarse sea salt. Repeat cooking process with the 4 remaining pretzels.
Bake pretzels in oven until crispy and brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool briefly before eating. Serve with mustard if desired.