Bavarian Pretzels

Directions

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   Two weeks ago on my way from Seattle to Johannesburg I had a day in Frankfurt. Spending a cold and sunny February day with dear friends reminded me of my first visit to Vienna.It was 2004 I think, somewhere around
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   Christmasor New Years I was wondering around Vienna city center, close to the Stephansdom (St. Stephens Cathedral) when me and my friends stumbled upon Bavarian pretzel stands. There is nothing better on a cold evening than a hot, salty cooked pretzel!Even though she had no idea that I'm crazy about them, my friend bought fresh, warm pretzels right before she picked me up from the airport...That gave me an idea! Try and make my own Bavarian pretzels...So, if you want to try it here is the recipe:Ingredients:1/2 kg (2 cups) of white bread flour1/4 l (1 cup) of milk50 gr (1/4 cup) of butter25 gr (2 tbsp) of dry yeast or 40gr of fresh yeast1/2 tsp of saltcoarse salt (sesame or other seeds)2 l (1/2 gallon) water5-6 tbsp baking soda
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   Put yeast in some warm milk and leave it for 15 minutes to start working.
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   Mix in the flour, butter, salt and the rest of the milk and make smooth dough. Leave it to rest for half hour.Step 2: Gently roll out the dough on a board and and make 10 - 15 equal sticks that you can either make pretzels of or leave it as rolls.Step 3: Bring water to a boil, remove it from the stove and add baking soda. Be careful when adding baking soda 'cause it makes a violent reaction with hot water. Bring it back to a boil and keep it on a rolling boil. Dip each piece of dough in boiling water for approximately 30 seconds, take it out and put it on a baking sheet.Step 4: Each pretzel should be slightly cut with a sharp knife, sprinkled with coarse salt and bake at 180 C or 400 F till they get medium to dark brown.It takes less than two hours from the beginning to the finished pretzels :)Step 5:ENJOY!