Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/19/baking-through-the-pandemic-s-2.html
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Pandemic Pretzels!
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DO NOT run out to the grocery store to pick up Tibetian rock salt.
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Pretzels need to be dipped in a lye solution to give them that nice texture.
That’s pretty dangerous at home as you have to get the solution just right and use the right, hard to find, food grade lye.
However, you can replicate that solution by changing the ph of Baking Soda by baking the baking soda.
Here’s a article by Harold McGee. About changing Sodium BiCarbonate into higher alkaline Sodium Carbonate.
2/3 cups of baking soda…baked at 200-300 degres for 2 to 3 hours.
Mix with 2 cups of water.
This will also turn normal cooked noodles into ramen. Give’em a rinse before using.
also…it’s used for making sour dough breads. And the reason you can’t make bagels at home, until now.
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You just just use baking soda as well.
The baked soda works a bit better. Basically the stronger the base you use, the less of it you need to get things really glossy and dark. So you can get things darker without risk of making things taste like a mouthful of baking soda.
Stuff works for making alkali noodles too. Though that is a task and a half even with a pasta machine.
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Baking soda will not sufficiently gelatinize the surface starch. There’s lye pretzels and then there’s everything else.
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None of that is true. Food grade lye is available on Amazon. It’s the same as lab grade NaOH according to my last supplier for culinary chemicals. And you don’t need anything more than a scale to make a 5% weight solution. That same 5% solution also won’t give you horrendous chemical burns. Eye pro is necessary, and gloves are recommended but if you get it on your skin, you just wash your hands. We’re all good at that these days.
Source: pastry chef for 15 years. There’s nothing *particularly difficult or dangerous about making pretzels at home.
*edit
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Yes, your starter is a little wet. You’re doing equal amounts by volume. You want to do equal amounts by weight. A half cup of flour runs between 70 and 85 grams depending on packing; a half cup of water is about 120 grams.
Weigh it out. Also, use half AP and half whole wheat, you should end up with healthier starter, since AP flour is basically straight up sugar. 
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We’re talking Americans here. They elected Trump. Not the smartest bunch to calculate a 5 percent solution unless it’s coke or meth.
Okay how many people would know to add the Lye to the water, or the water to lye? and wear safety goggles.
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Well one way you get delicious pretzels. The other, you get to learn a new skill, like braille. Win-win?
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So, what’s the correct answer? Yes, google would tell me, I’m asking for the unwashed masses.
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I would recommend trying a savory pie if you’ve leftover meat and vegetables you want to use up. Good comfort food. Homemade is an order of magnitude better than frozen pies, at least partly because it’s not a mystery to the cook what’s inside. You can do either regular crust or mashed potatoes on top, for cottage or sheppard’s pie variant.
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if I recall my HS chemistry teacher correctly: do as you oughta, add acid to water. Rhymes nice with the right regional accent.
You add the thing you don’t want to splash out to the other stuff. Pour acid into water and if something splashes out it’s going to be the water, not the acid.
I’m not 100% on how well it maps to the baking soda/lye thing discussed here because baking soda is a granule/powder and I thought food grade lye would be in similar form as well (I’m rolling google free here, like you) and to me granules/powder splashing out doesn’t really seem at the same level of risk as pouring liquids? Depending on how fine the powder is I suppose you could end up with a koolaid cloud situation but that seems like it could happen no matter the order of materials combined. Maybe common practice for food use is to make a concentrated lye solution from powder and then dilute? Then you’d be pouring some nasty liquid.
Anyway, that’s the general rule as I was told it.
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Sodium hydroxide dissolving in water is an exothermic (heat producing) reaction. If you add lye granules to a large volume of water, the water will absorb the heat safely.
If you add small amounts of water to lye granules, the water won’t be able to absorb the heat, and will probably boil. It will also be highly concentrated (as there’s little water for dilution), so as it boils, it will be spitting a very caustic liquid all over the place.
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Here’s a blog with comparisons between different solutions & methods as alternatives to the lye method. Quite useful to see what lends good color and flavor.
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Jason, you inspired me. I too think that baking is just the thing to do while hunkered down. It sparks joy for me, it’s nourishing, and delights the family.
I’ve got a batch of sourdough pretzels rising now. I use my starter, mostly bread flour with some rye and spelt, a couple tablespoons of butter, and a bit of honey. For Octoberfest last year, I bought lye from Amazon and pretzel salt from King Arthur flour. They come out really great and they’re fun to make, but a little time consuming.
In the past, I’ve made Paul Hollywood’s recipe for glazed orange-poppy seed pretzels, and they are amazing!
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The lye goes into the water.
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