Originally Posted by
janiebakes
I have never made the pretzel buns but have baked a lot of sourdough over the years. The discarded sourdough dough starter will add a lot of delicious sourdough flavor but is over the hill when it comes to leavening the dough. That is why you need the instant yeast. The non diastatic malt powder can be added to the dough as food for the yeast. It can also be used instead of lye, in a boiling water bath to give your pretzels a hard shiney crust. Not sure why they are asking for baking soda. Could be to help with the leaveing, to adjust the pH of the dough or to put in the boiling water bath. Good luck, sounds delish!
Thanks, Janiebakes. I wonder why you can't use just regular, live, sourdough starter and skip the instant active yeast. I would also think that the fancy malt powder could be replaced with regular sugar, although that might affect the taste. I'm pretty sure that the baking soda is used in the boiling water, since it is alkaline and that is what makes that shiny crust and unusual taste. I'm going to keep researching.