I've never really thought about how soft pretzels get their chewy golden outside shell...well I hadn't thought about it until I decided to try to make some and realized that pretzels truly are just bread. There's really nothing really different (other than a slightly different ratio of water to flour but nothing drastically different) about the pretzel recipe compared to normal bread. Today I learned what makes pretzels have a different texture than bread.
Pretzels are dipped in a baking soda dissolved in water before baking. (Lye used to be used instead of baking soda! EEK!!) This alkaline solution reacts with the dough and gelatinizes the starch on the surface. This makes the outside of the pretzel sticky which allows the salt to stick to it and it also gives the finished pretzel a nice golden outside.
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