German Brewing

I am doing a quick dip in room temperature sodium carbonate (not sodium bicarbonate) solution at a pH of about 11. I let them drip off the excess and then put them right on the silpat for baking.

Another option is to use a pastry brush to paint them while they're directly on the silpat. This lets you proof them a bit more first without having to worry about deflating them, if you want a more airy pretzel.

THANKS GUYS! I think my family would go for these weekly if I could refine the process so that the kitchen prep is a snap and not some big production. Already have the silpats... My uncle who travels to the motherland frequently is a fan of the onion/lard griebenschmalz spread on his. Never heard of that stuff until recently.

Try obatza too! That's my favorite on pretzels.

Hmm, lost a post. 2nd time. Might be timing out. In any event, obatza looks INCREDIBLE! I am totally making some of that after I dial in the pretzels.

If you go the pastry brush route, you can form the pretzels on the Silpat and just let them rise to whatever puffyness you want, then gently brush them right before baking.

Anyone use wild yeast/sourdough to leaven with these? Somewhat unrelated, but I have an awesome culture going that I would love to use to make pretzels.