Pretzels or pretzel rolls

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 kg wheat flour (type 550)
• 80 g margarine (not breakfast margarine)
• 500 ml water
• 1 cube of yeast, fresh
• 2 tsp sugar
• 5 tsp salt
• 80 g baking soda – lye (sodium hydroxide)
• 1 liter of water
• possibly salt, coarse or poppy seeds, sesame, …

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Heat 500 ml of water and mix with the sugar and yeast. Let it rise for about 5-10 minutes. Mix the flour with the salt. Melt the margarine. Blend all ingredients into a smooth dough. In the meantime, make an 8% lye solution with 80 g of sodium hydroxide and 1 liter of water. When handling the lye, be careful not to get it in your eyes due to possible splashes. It is recommended to wear safety goggles! Divide the dough into 12 pieces, shape as desired, and let rise for about 30 minutes. Then place each piece in the lye for about 10 seconds and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Lye-resistant baking foil is better. Score the dough pieces with scissors and sprinkle as desired (rock salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc.). Preheat the oven to 150°C and bake the dough pieces for about 30-40 minutes. The lye can be used repeatedly. After use, I pour it into a labeled bottle with a swing-top lid. This way, I can reuse it again and again. Sodium hydroxide is available at the pharmacy. I order mine online because it’s cheaper there.