IngredientsSalt
Grobes Salz, Brezensalzcoarse salt
The same sodium chloride as the fine kind, only in large crystals. On a pretzel or a Laugenstange the grain stays whole, crunches under the tooth and delivers the salt hit in one spot.
In the pot it is the salt for cooking water: potatoes, pasta, asparagus. There it tastes like any other salt. Just do not dose it by the spoon: coarse salt fills a spoon more loosely than fine. Weighing is safer.
In Mexikoin Mexico
Sal de grano, in every mercado and supermarket. Take the coarse grade, not the half fine one.
If nothing coarse is on the shelf, sal de mar en hojuelas works. The flakes are flatter but they hold too.
Vorsichtwatch out
Fine salt on a pretzel pulls water out of the lye wash and out of the air, and dissolves. What is left is a damp salty patch instead of a grain.
The bread then tastes salty rather than seasoned, and the crust goes dull. With no coarse grains in the house, leave the pretzel bare and put salt on the side.