Day 1 1 1/2 cups warm (115º to 118º F) water 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 2 cups bread flour 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted 1 Ziploc bag Day 2 Ingredients 2 pieces parchment paper 9 cups water ½ cup baking soda 1 egg yolk beaten with 1T water Kosher salt or coarse salt for topping pretzels
Cinnamon/sugar topping for 4 pretzels 3 T butter, melted ¼ cup sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Method
Preheat the oven to 450 F/425 F convection and line 2 -sheet pans with parchment paper and spray with canola oil. Set aside.
Bring the 9 cups of water and the ½ cup baking soda to a rolling boil in your stock pot.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 32-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other twice and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined sheet pan.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a slotted spoon and tongs. Return to the sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture (this will make them shiny and brown when baked) and sprinkle with salt. If you are going to make sugar cinnamon pretzels, do not add salt at this point, just egg wash.
Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 8-10 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through the baking time.
Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
