Giant soft pretzels

Add lukewarm water to a bowl, add the instant yeast and stir.

Add sugar and salt and stir. Add the flour roughly a cup at a time, mixing, until the dough is no longer sticky.

Poke the dough; if it bounces back it is ready to knead.

Flour the work surface and knead for a couple of minutes into a round ball.

Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a towel and set it to rise in an oven heated on its lowest setting and then turned off.

Cut the dough into pieces and roll each into a rope about 20 inches long.

Bring the two tips together, twist them around each other and press them onto the base to form the pretzel shape.

Bring a big pot of water to the boil and whisk in half a cup of baking soda.

Boil each pretzel for 30 seconds.

Whisk an egg in a pie dish and brush it over each pretzel on a parchment-lined baking tray.

Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and bake 10 minutes at 210C.

Switch the oven to broil for an additional five minutes to colour the tops.