This recipe is a mainstay of Super Bowl Sunday.
1 1/2 cups of warm water
2 packet of dry yeast (2 1/3 teaspoons)
1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar (you can use white sugar if you don’t have brown)
1 teaspoon of salt.
1 Tablespoon of melted butter.
Mix all the ingredients above in a large bowl.
Add 3 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour.
Add Flour 1 cup at a time while mixing. After it is mixed, add more flour a little at a time until the dough is not sticky.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes, form into a ball and then let it sit.
While the dough is resting, add 8-10 cups of water in a pot, non reactive if possible. Add 1/3 cup of Baking Soda.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
After 10 minutes are up, divide the dough into balls of about 75 g (about 2.5-3 oz). The dough ball should make about 1 doz pretzels, so you can also just eyeball it.
On a flat surface roll the ball in to a rope of about 22-24 inches long. Tie a pretzel by making a “U” with the rope, overlapping the end and twisting it once and then flopping the tag ends down on to the bottom of the “U”. Set 4-6 pretzels aside, preferably on some parchment paper so they don’t stick.
When you have enough pretzels to sit on a cookie sheet (4-6) bring the alkaline water to a boil. Carefully put a pretzel in the boiling water and after 10-15 seconds remove the pretzel with a large utensil with slots or holes (like a slotted spatula) and set it on the cookie sheet (again with parchment paper or a silicone pad).
Sprinkle the pretzels with salt (Kosher flake salt, or pretzel salt is best) and put them in the oven for 10 minutes. (More if needed, just be sure that pretzel is cooked through).
While they are cooking you can blanche another batch and also melt 2-3 Tablespoons of butter.
Take the pretzels out when browned, and brush on a little butter.
Repeat.
Eat Pretzels.
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