The soft pretzel is the best thing on any bar menu and nobody makes it at home, because the good ones need malt and a boil and coarse salt that is not table salt. All three are in this bag.

Inside: the baking mix, the baking yeast, the malt powder that browns the crust to that deep glossy mahogany, and real pretzel salt, the coarse crunchy kind that sits on top without dissolving. Mix, knead, rope, twist, boil, bake. It makes a dozen.

Twisting them is the fun part and it is a job you can hand to a seven year old. They come out of the oven salty, savoury and still warm, which is the entire argument for making them yourself.

From your own kitchen you add butter and baking soda, plus water and a little sugar to proof the yeast. Contains wheat. Made in the United States. FarmSteady publishes free step by step instructions on its site.