Ingredients:

  • 3 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading
  • 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter, divided and melted
  • 1 cup sourdough starter (unfed discard straight from the fridge)
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • Course Salt (Pretzel salt, course sea salt, flaky salt all work)

Preparation:

  1. Grease a baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350º F.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour. 1 tablespoon of sugar, salt, and yeast with a whisk or fork.
  3. Once combined, add in the milk, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and sourdough starter, mix with a wooden spoon.
  4. Once a shaggy dough has formed, flip the dough onto the table surface and knead. Knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Add a sprinkle of flour if the dough is too sticky while kneading but don’t add too much flour here, the dough should not be too dry.
  5. Once you have a smooth ball, place the dough in. greased bowl and cover with a towel. Place in a warm spot and allow to rise fro 1 hour.
  6. Once the dough has risen flip onto table and cut into equal pieces, I ended up with about 8 pieces.
  7. Roll out the dough into a long rope (~18 inches). Twist the rope into a pretzel shape by twisting the ends and placing over the middle of the rope.
  8. Repeat with remaining dough. Place the formed pretzels on the prepared baking sheet.
  9. Mix 2 tablespoons of water with 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl. Brush the pretzels with the sugar water and sprinkle with course salt.
  10. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
  11. Brush the pretzels with remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
  12. Enjoy with mustard!

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour