Giant Pretzels

Warm the milk to lukewarm, stir in the sugar and dissolve the yeast well in it.

Place the flour, sour cream, soft butter and salt in a bowl, pour in the yeast milk and knead everything into a smooth dough.

Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Briefly knead the dough again, then roll it into a long rope.

Shape the rope into a pretzel and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C fan (200 °C conventional).

Brush the pretzels with milk and let them rise again for about 30 minutes in a warm place, until they have noticeably increased in volume.

Sprinkle with coarse salt, poppy seeds, or caraway.

Bake the giant pretzels on the middle rack for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Let the pretzels cool on a wire rack.