Isn’t it wonderful, when you find out that something
you were convinced
would be terribly difficult,
involved, complicated,
long-and-drawn-out
and
down-right tricky

was, in fact,
a breeze, a lark,
a walk-in-the-park,

and fun?

That was my pretzel-making experience.

When Jessi brought her pretzels to potluck a few years ago, we all went crazy for them. Who makes pretzels? We rewarmed the soft salty twists in the oven. A dunk into a crock of spicy mustard, we greedily devoured them.

As I was compiling our recipes for the cookbook, I had no doubt.
The pretzels had to be represented.

Jessi readily accommodated, sending me her method, with tips.

Seeking to recreate the same distinctive taste that she and her husband had enjoyed in Bavaria, she had done extensive research and experimentation. The outcome–a straightforward, authentic, and easy-to-make recipe.

The dough is basic. It does not require lengthy rise time or punching down. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can whip it up in short order, let the machine do the 10 minute kneading process, while you do something else. Hand-rolling the dough into long strands and looping them into the pretzel shape is quite fun.

But there is one piece to the process that was news to me. What Jessi learned—call it the secret, or the trick to making perfect pretzels—-is that you dip the dough knot into a diluted lye solution before baking.

Lye? Isn’t that the stuff Paulie put into Bed-Bug Eddie’s coffee in The Pope of Greenwich Village?

The idea of working with this caustic substance, well, freaked me out, at first. But Jessi, our resident soap maker, and no stranger to the product, assured me that there was nothing to fear. “Just Be Prudent.” (I’ve listed her prudent tips below, with the recipe.)

Food-grade lye is an intrinsic component of curing olives, and making hominy, In the case of the pretzels, there is amazing science here–the interaction of sodium hydroxide with the oven heat produces that characteristic browning and taste before it vanishes.

And, it was not a problem to use. Really!

I made a batch of pretzels for one of the cookbook’s photo shoot days. I was so elated with how splendid they turned out that I made them again when visiting my bread-baking friend Maggie.

For sure, they are delicious right out of the oven. But you can rewarm them the next day with terrific results. That outer brown sheen only gets crunchier—but there is still that soft chewy pretzel interior.

Many recipes use a combination of baking soda–which is another alkali– and water. And I am happy to send you to Cooking Light for their recipe, if you are not comfortable using the food-grade lye dip. It will make a good pretzel—but not a great one.

Here’s the link to my homemade mustards, if you want to go all-out. The coarse-grain stout mustard is made for pretzel-dunking.

JESSI’S DELICIOUS GERMAN-STYLE PRETZELS
1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
2 cups warm water, divided
5 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup food grade lye*
10 cups water
Coarse sea salt to taste

Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.

Place the bread flour into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the salt, softened butter, activated yeast, and remaining water. Mix until combined. Knead the ingredients until the dough is elastic, about 10 minutes.

Cover with a towel and let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Cut into 12 equal pieces and form into balls. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Roll each ball into a thin rope (about 18 inches long). Make into an upside-down U, and twist the ends around each other to create the distinctive pretzel shape.
Place each one on parchment paper–lined baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered for a minimum of 2 hours up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a stainless-steel bowl, dissolve the lye in the water. Dip each side of the pretzels into the lye mixture for 15 seconds and remove to the baking sheet.

Sprinkle each pretzel with coarse salt.
Bake for about 17 minutes. Immediately remove the pretzels from the parchment onto wire rack to cool.

JESSI’S TIPS
• You can find food grade lye at a number of online sources. I ordered mine from http://www.essentialdepot.com/servlet/Categories.
• Only use stainless-steel pots, bowls, and utensils when working with lye. No plastic. No wood. It is wise to wear gloves when dipping the pretzels into the diluted lye solution.
• Don’t be afraid of the lye mixture—just be prudent. It’s pretty diluted and really the key to making the outside of the pretzel firm and browned evenly.
• You can also make pretzel rolls. Snip or score the top of the rolled ball after dipping in the lye solution.

1. Barbara Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 6:56 am

   Lye? Well, that kind of makes me stop and consider. (Along with the warning to be prudent.) But the results sure are smashing. I’d feel like a wimp to make them any other way, Nancy!

2. Teresa, foodonfifth Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 7:00 am

   You were certainly right about this recipe of dear Jessi’s. So really from start to finish it takes about 3 hours! Bravo Nancy! I wish I were more of a pretzel fan but alas I am not, but the ones you made for the cookbook were certainly lovely to look at and for me as a food stylist how food looks is almost as important as how it tastes! Simple & Easy!

3. Renee Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 7:47 am

   These look delicious!! Any suggestions for a butter substitue for my pretzel loving vegan friend?

4. goodfoodmatters Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 8:06 am

   Hi Renee,
   Earth Balance makes a vegan shortening that is an ideal butter substitute for vegans. Another trusted brand in Spectrum. Cheers!
   Nancy

5. Maggie Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 8:35 am

   Nance, this was a lot of fun! Making the dough was easy, and the lye wasn’t a big deal. One added note is that your baking pan should be stainless steel, too. Everything stainless steel! The pretzels as a sandwich roll was excellent!!

6. goodfoodmatters Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 8:39 am

   Hey Mag–right–EVERYTHING stainless, including the baking sheet. I can’t wait to make ‘em again!

7. Denise | Chez Danisse Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 10:52 am

   They are gorgeous, but lye… It makes me nervous. I was afraid to use it with fresh olives and my method didn’t go so well. I had a friend use it with her olives and she had great success. Perhaps I need to lighten up a bit, and do some reading on the subject so I’m more comfortable.

8. goodfoodmatters Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 11:51 am

   I understand, Denise. I was a little nervous too. But, used with care, it is not troublesome. It’s a very old technique, too.

9. Tammy Says:
   November 21st, 2013 at 8:49 pm

   You know, my neighbor make posole with lye and because of that, it doesn’t bother me. Still, it surprised me that lye is the secret to these beautiful pretzels. What a fun potluck item!

10. Karen (Back Road Journal) Says:
    November 23rd, 2013 at 9:51 am

    Just be prudent…a very important tip. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

11. heather Says:
    November 26th, 2013 at 9:26 am

    Love the mustard recipes you have here to go along with the pretzels!

12. Juliana Says:
    November 26th, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    Oh Nancy, your pretzels look so cute…I can only imagine a bite of this homemade pretzel dipped with your homemade mustard…yum!
    I never used lye, and had to search the internet…always learning something new.