The German Pretzel Project

Making pretzels from scratch takes a while. In fact it takes just long enough to qualify as a project and not just a recipe. However, this is one project that rewards you for all of your hard work. Fresh, warm pretzels are as satisfying as a homemade bread or a pizza crust made just before you baked it. This process starts with making a yeast dough, kneading it for a bit then letting it rise for a while. Then kneading the dough again and rolling it out into seperate sticks and letting it rise or puff once again for a while. Then boiling the sticks for about thirty seconds and draining them to dry. Then egg-washing each stick and sprinkling vigorously with kosher salt before you slide them into the oven. The result about 10 minutes later are soft, moist, delicious, salty pretzels. Great on their own but even better dipped into german or yellow mustard.