Yep, he's pretty attractive. I took pictures along the way to show you the important steps in pretzel making.
Here ya go!
Steps in Pretzel Making
Melt the butter.
Combine warm water, salt, sugar, yeast, butter and flour to create a beautiful dough. Let it rise for an hour or so.
Punch it down to let out some of the air. It's fun. Check out my fist print!
Cut it into 8 equal (ish) portions using a metal bench scraper.
Roll each portion into a long rope. Like a snake.
Shape rope into a pretzel shape. Like this :
Drop pretzels into a boiling baking soda water (or beer!!) solution and boil for 40 seconds or so. The alkaline baking soda is what gives pretzels their characteristic flavor. It also helps to give them a head start in puffing up before baking them in the oven and gives them a nice exterior crust.
Bake at 450F for about 12 minutes!
The pretzels in the first picture were not brushed with melted butter. They're lighter in colour and had a softer crust. The pretzels in the second photo were brushed with lots of butter and are a much more appealing shade of brown! I love how they are cracked on the surface. So beautiful! So, to conclude, butter is better!
And that's it! So simple and delicious. Don't forget the yellow mustard!
Oh, and they freeze super well!