How to bake the perfect pretzels

Do you need a sourdough starter? Should you add milk and sugar? And how do you achieve that crispy, burnished crust?With more aliases than the late lamented Artist Formerly Known as Prince, known variously as brezel, bretzel, brezn and breze as well as the more familiar Anglophone pretzel, the correct spelling isn’t the only thing that’s a bit twisted about this ancient bread. Named originally for the Latin brachium, thanks to its (slight) resemblance to folded arms, and often credit