The baking soda trick for better homemade pretzels

Bakery pretzels get their deep brown crust from a short dip in lye before baking. Lye is very alkaline, and alkaline dough browns fast and tastes like a pretzel should.

Lye is also caustic, and you need gloves and eye protection to use it safely. Most home recipes swap in a baking soda bath, which is safe but much weaker. That’s why homemade pretzels often come out pale and bready.

The fix

Spread baking soda on a lined tray and bake it at 120°C for an hour. The heat drives off water and carbon dioxide, and the sodium bicarbonate turns into sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is far more alkaline, so your bath works a lot more like the real thing.

How to use it

• Use the baked soda in place of plain baking soda in your recipe’s bath.
• Dip each shaped pretzel for about 30 seconds, then lift it out with a slotted spoon.
• Top with coarse salt and bake hot, around 220°C, until the crust is a deep, shiny brown.

Baked soda is strong enough to irritate skin, so wear gloves and keep it away from kids. Store it in a labelled jar, well away from the regular baking soda.

Eat them warm, with mustard and a cold glass of Riesling.