🥨 Soft pretzels (twists, bites and buns)

Ingredients

• 500 g all-purpose flour, or bread flour
• 7 g active dry yeast
• 7 g table salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 28 g butter, salted, melted
• 1¼ cup water, about 110°F
• ½ cup baking soda, for the bath: bake it first for a darker crust (see the steps)
• 8 cup water, for the bath
• 1 tbsp kosher salt, coarse, for topping

Time

Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.

How long it keeps

• Counter: best the day they’re baked; uncovered or in a paper bag for a day (salt draws moisture in a closed bag).
• Freezer: freeze them baked and unsalted, up to 3 months (University of Missouri’s time for baked yeast bread); add salt after warming.

Nutrition

Steps

You’ll need: large bowl, baking sheet (for baking the soda), wide stainless-steel or enameled pot (not aluminum), slotted spoon or spider, 2 baking sheets lined with parchment, kitchen gloves (for handling baked baking soda).

1. For a darker, more traditional crust, bake the baking soda first (you can do this days ahead): spread the ½ cup on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 250°F for 1 hour. Heat turns baking soda into washing soda (sodium carbonate), which is more alkaline; fully changed, it weighs about a third less. Let it cool, then store it in a closed jar labeled “baked baking soda: not for eating”, out of children’s reach. Plain baking soda works too, with a lighter crust.
2. Dough: stir the yeast and brown sugar into the warm water and let it stand 5 minutes. Add the butter, salt and flour and knead 8 minutes into a smooth, firm dough.
3. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
4. Shape. Twists: divide into 8, roll each into a 24-inch rope, make a U, cross the ends twice, and press them onto the bottom of the U. Buns: 8 tight balls. Bites: roll ropes and cut into 1-inch pieces.
5. Set them on the parchment-lined sheets and refrigerate, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes; firm dough holds its shape in the bath. Heat the oven to 425°F.
6. Bath: in the stainless pot, bring the 8 cups of water to a simmer and stir in ¼ cup of baked baking soda (or ½ cup plain baking soda) a little at a time; it foams. Keep it at a gentle simmer.
7. Dip 2 or 3 at a time for 20 to 30 seconds (buns 30 seconds a side), lift out with the slotted spoon, drain, and set back on the parchment. Keep children away from the hot pot.
8. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Slash the buns across the top. Bake twists 12 to 15 minutes, bites 10 to 12, buns 18 to 20, until deep brown.
9. Let the bath cool, then pour it down the drain with running water.