Authentic German soft pretzels traditionally call for the dough to be dipped in a solution of food-grade lye and water before baking. Yeah, lye. It’s actually what gives the pretzels their characteristic “deep, dark, burnished skin,” according to author Andrea Slonecker. We don't doubt that. Still, call us scaredy-cats, but in the words of Slonecker, we just aren’t up to the challenge. And we’re okay with that. So we’re going to let that little tradition, er lie, seeing as the author, thankfully, gifted us with a comparable solution. "The esteemed food scientist Harold McGee wrote a story for the New York Times in which he explained that the chemical properties of baking soda can be altered, causing it to behave in a similar way to lye, if it is baked in an oven at a low temperature for an hour or so." That's her solution. Works for us. You'll see that we opted for this eminently sensible alternative in our tweaked version of the recipe that follows. And those of us who have experienced German soft pretzels in their native country didn't feel anything was missing at all.