Preztels

There is no equivalent to the experience of eating a warm, soft, chewy, fresh homemade pretzel.  If you've never had one, do yourself a great favor and make them immediately.

ingredients: 
makes 6 pretzels

1.  1 teaspoon instant yeast 
2.  1/4 cup honey 
3.  1 teaspoon Salt 
4.  3 cups (16.5 ounces) bread flour (King Arthur Bread Flour)
5.  1 cup warm water, (about 110 degrees) 
6.  4 tablespoons baking soda 
7.  1 egg
8.  Coarse salt 
9.  Oil
10.  Parchment paper
11.  13 x 8 baking sheet


recipe:
note:
the oiling and covering of the dough with a damp paper towel throughout is a paranoid response to the dough drying and cracking.  If the dough cracks, which can happen at any point during shaping and rolling, it is pretty much impossible to smooth out.  These cracks then open up during baking.  While the cracks have no effect on the actual flavor or texture of the finished pretzel, I like my pretzels as purty as possible.  If you care nothing for purtiness, please ignore all my moisturizing steps.

1.  Mix together the yeast, honey, salt, flour, and water in the bowl of a standing mixer. 
2.  Using the dough hook, knead at low speed until a smooth, elastic ball of dough forms (the dough will be quite stiff), 5 to 7 minutes.
3.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl and turn the dough to coat with the oil.
4.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5.  Deflate the dough, cover, and let rise until nearly doubled in size again, 30 to 40 minutes.
6.  Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees.
7.  Pour 6 cups water into a 12-inch skillet add the baking soda, stir, cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
8.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
9.  Soak 3 paper towels with water and squeeze out excess.
10.  Have a small plate on the side with a tablespoon of oil.
11.  Rip off exactly 4 ounces of dough and cover the rest of the dough with damp paper towel.
12.  Aggressively roll the ball in your hands into as perfect a sphere as possible, trying to smooth out any cracks.
13.  Very lightly cover the ball in a dab of oil, place onto baking try lined with parchment, then cover with remaining 2 paper towels.
14.  Repeat steps 11-13 five more times for a total of 6 balls.
note:
DO NOT DUST WORK SURFACE WITH FLOUR.  It should be as clean, smooth, and dry as possible.  Flouring will cause the dough to not be able to grip the counter top and as a result not be able to rotate.  You will essentially just be pushing the dough forward and back.
15.  Working with one ball at a time, and making sure to keep the others covered with a damp towel, AGGRESSIVELY roll ball into EXACTLY a 23 inch even rope.  Do not be afraid to push as hard as you possibly can.
note:
the exact technique for rolling out the ropes takes a few times to figure out but is relatively easy.  One thing to watch out for is thinning out one section of the rope too much as you cannot thicken it after it becomes too thin.
16.  Shape into pretzel and then cover with damp towel.
note:
When shaping the pretzel, do not let the ends of the pretzels get too close or else they can fuse during baking.  Leave a decent gap in between the ends by curling the ends towards the side of the pretzel.
17.  Repeat for the other 5 balls.
18.  Gently place 2 pretzels at once into the boiling water/baking soda mixture so that they aren't touching.
19.  After EXACTLY 15 seconds, flip them over and boil for another 15 seconds.
20.  Drain onto paper towel and dry thoroughly.
21.  Repeat 2 more times for the other 4 pretzels.
22.  Arrange pretzels evenly on the baking tray.
23.  Beat egg with 1 TBL of warm water and mix well then brush top of pretzels with egg wash
24. Sprinkle 2 layers of coarse salt over pretzels
note:
If using table salt, sprinkle 3 solid layers of salt.  You need more than you think.
25.  Bake on middle rack for 12-15 min, rotating sheet half way through baking time, until the top is golden brown.
26.  Cool for 5-10 before serving.  Eat with whatever condiment you want.  I like mine plain with just salt.
note:
I have tried to sugar and cinnamon the pretzels but I wasn't a huge fan of them.  They were alright but definitely not as good as the salted ones.