1 teaspoon white sugar ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup cold water
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
Place flour, salt, sugar, and grated cheese in a mixing bowl. Stir together until well mixed. Add rosemary; drizzle with olive oil and add water. Mix with a fork until mixture comes together in a fairly sticky dough and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 3 to 5 minutes.
Transfer dough onto floured surface and add flour as you knead the dough. Knead until it no longer sticks to work surface, 4 to 5 minutes. Divide dough in half.
Dust work surface with flour. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness or less. Brush or mist surface of dough very lightly with water. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Prick the entire surface of dough with the tines of a fork to prevent crackers from puffing too much when baking.
Cut each rolled out half into about 30 pieces with a pizza wheel. You can cut them out in squares, rectangles, or triangles–your choice. Transfer onto prepared baking sheet with a bench scraper or your floured fingers (dough will be very sticky).
Bake in preheated oven until perfectly browned and crunchy, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness.
Combine the yeast, warm water, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, and let sit for 10 minutes until foamy. This indicates the yeast is alive and working. Add the flour and salt. Mix with the dough hook by hand for a few seconds to roughly combine, then fit the hook and bowl on the mixer and knead on medium low for 5 minutes. The dough should feel soft and smooth, not sticky to the touch.
Cover the dough and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, and lightly grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil. You could use parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Place the dough onto a lightly oiled countertop. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (just cut it with a knife).
Whisk to combine the warm water and baking soda and cook in the microwave for 1 minute. FYI it’s not going to dissolve completely, and that’s okay.
Roll each of the eight pieces into a long rope, and shape each one into a pretzel (see the step-by-step photos on the blog post to see how to do this). Dip each pretzel into the soda wash and place onto the greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, then let them rest for 10 minutes.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes until the pretzels are golden brown. Brush the pretzels with the melted butter while they are hot out of the oven. Enjoy while they are hot, and keep in mind these don’t taste as amazing the next day. Enjoy!
