Pretzel Bites

Dough:

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 c warm water (a little less in the summer)

Baking Soda Bath:

1 c boiling water
2 Tbs baking soda

Topping:

Melted unsalted butter
Coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt

You can make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until it's soft and smooth. Flour the dough, place in clean bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, prepare the baking soda bath: Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm.

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into whatever size pieces you wish. I prefer smaller pretzel bites.

Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Pour the baking soda/water into a shallow pan (approximately a 9” cake pan works great)

Place the pretzel bites in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. The baking soda "bath" will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color, so don’t skip this step!

Transfer the pretzels to the baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes (work on your next batch while these are waiting to go in the oven).

Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but just trust me, there’s no such thing as too much butter.