I love to make homemade pretzels, because they are at their absolute peak when they are warm and fresh from the oven. Classic pretzels are made with the help of food-grade lye, which is responsible for a pretzel's characteristic chew and deeply brown exterior. But food grade lye is tricky to use — read: actually dangerous — if handled improperly. My friend Erin Clarkson of Cloudy Kitchen finally produced a beautiful pretzel without lye, and it inspired me to try, too. This combination of finishes emulates lye beautifully — a soak in baking soda water, which performs a similar reaction to the lye on the surface of the dough, and egg wash — and helps get the dough to the level of brown I think they deserve. — Erin Jeanne McDowell
