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I saw something about a Hot dog with a pretzel bun and got inspired. So I pretty much have the recipe close to where I want it. But not sure what to use as a wash. Tried egg whites so far and wasn't very happy. I'm open to all suggestions as I'm not sure what I want or what the expectation of a pretzel hot dog bun should be. Also would you doing anything special with the boil? Just using the standard baking soda and water at the moment. Thanks

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A lye solution is the "standard" wash for pretzels. Since food-grade lye can be difficult to come by, sodium carbonate (not to be confused with sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda) is sometimes used instead. But I understand that you are looking for something non-standard. – Chris Steinbach Sep 6 '12 at 22:01
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It might be kind of helpful if you could clarify what's unsatisfactory about the baking soda and water, since a lot of people seem to be happy with it for home pretzel making. – Jefromi♦ Sep 7 '12 at 4:34
@Jefromi I should perhaps have said "traditional" rather than "standard". And silence might have been a better option considering I've only ever sampled German Brezeln (which have a glossy, deep caramel glaze from the lye wash). – Chris Steinbach Sep 7 '12 at 5:37
@EDabM See cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/14466/… – TFD Sep 11 '12 at 23:43

1 Answer

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You could get a better crust on the pretzels if you used baked soda instead of baking soda and it's still safer than playing with lye.

As for the wash... egg whites aren't going to give you much flavor. Did you try a regular egg wash? It will give the best color and shine. For flavor, though, you could try clarified butter or some sort of oil. You could mix it with spices or herbs - I brush oil and minced garlic on dough and bake it like that with nice results.

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