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1
Bake the baking soda on a rimmed sheet at 250 °C for 1 hour. It converts to sodium carbonate. Cool completely, then dissolve in 1 litre of water to produce the dipping solution. Wear food-safe gloves throughout all handling of the solution. The solution is ready when the powder has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear.
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2
Combine the flour, yeast, and fine salt in a bowl. Add the softened butter and the water. Mix and knead to a smooth, firm dough — noticeably stiffer than standard bread dough. A slack dough cannot hold the pretzel loop and will deform during dipping. The dough is ready when it is smooth, cohesive, and pulls cleanly from the work surface.
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3
Bulk-ferment the dough at room temperature until it has grown perceptibly but remains firm. Divide into eight equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope approximately 60 cm long, thicker at the centre and tapering at the ends. Loop into the classic pretzel shape, crossing the arms twice and pressing the ends onto the belly. The shaped pretzel should hold its form without springing back.
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4
Cold-proof the shaped pretzels briefly in the refrigerator — long enough to firm the surface for handling, but not so long that the dough stiffens beyond workability. Do not over-refrigerate. The pretzels are ready to dip when the surface is just dry to the touch and the dough still yields slightly under a fingertip.
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5
Wearing gloves, submerge each pretzel in the 10% sodium carbonate solution for a minimum of 20 seconds, turning once to ensure full contact on all surfaces. Lift out and place on a lined baking sheet. Insufficient contact time produces a pale crust; the mahogany colour is entirely dependent on solution concentration and contact time. This is where the dish lives or dies: under-dipped pretzels cannot be remedied in the oven.
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6
Immediately after dipping, while the surface remains tacky, scatter coarse pretzel salt over each pretzel. Salt applied after baking will not adhere. Using a sharp blade held at 45°, score the thick belly of each pretzel in a single decisive cut. An unscored belly will burst at random points; the score controls expansion and produces the characteristic pale seam across the dark crust.
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7
Bake in a hot oven until the crust is a deep, even mahogany and the surface is glossy. The thin arms will be noticeably crisper than the thick belly. The pretzel is done when the crust is uniformly dark brown without any pale patches and the score has opened to a clean white seam.