What is a bore tide?

A boretide happens when a lot of water moves out of a bay’s shallow ocean floor with an extreme low tide. When the high tide comes in, it rushes as one fast, intense wave, filling the muddy land back with water. Some people surf the bore tide (photo by @wildinak)! The rare phenomenon of the bore tides happens in Turnagain Arm, right outside of Anchorage! It is worth watching this unique tide. Surf’s up!

Where does your salt come from?

Currently the salt our pretzels are sprinkled with is from Whittier, Alaska! Prince William Sound Salt Co. provides an incredibly quality product. Each fleck of salt is unique and pure.

Why lye?

Lye is a unique ingredient. We make it into a caustic soda that each pretzel soaks in before being baked. When using lye, safety precautions are important as this caustic soda can be harmful to skin when in liquid form. The lye becomes inert, and chemically changes when being heated through the baking process, which makes it safe to eat!

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The lye speeds up the Maillard reaction, which results in sugars on the crust caramelizing. The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction that happens between the amino acids and sugars in bread dough that gives bread products their color while also imparting flavor. Lye cuts the hairs on the gluten, which makes for a smooth, golden brown crust, with a perfect texture. Basically, the lye reacts with the CO₂ and moisture present during baking to form a non-toxic carbonate.
If you’re still not convinced, here is what is really happening with your pretzels! The reaction:
CO₂ (g) + H₂O (l) ­⇄ H₂CO₃ (aq)
H₂CO₃ (aq) + 2 NaOH (aq) → Na₂CO₃ (aq) + 2 H₂O (l)
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What does double fermented mean?

The air bubbles inside of a baked good are referred to as the ‘crumb’. When you tear apart our delightful treats, you will notice an airy crumb with lots of little bubbles. This process takes lots of time.

The first fermentation is called a poolish. A poolish is a liquidy dough that is started 12 hours before the rest of the dough. It sits and lets the yeast feed over night and gets bubbly. This is the first step to light, airy crumb, and bomb flavor.

When it comes time to make the dough, poolish is an ingredient added. We then add more yeast, and let the dough sit in pretzel form for 12 more hours before baking. This lets yeast eat again, which creates more air bubbles, and even more flavor!

Does BTPC have a storefront?

Currently we are such a new business, we are only doing pop-ups. The best way to find us next is to look at the blue banner at the top of the website, and follow up on Instagram, or Facebook.

When did this business start?

BTPC started in August of 2022. We are proud that our first events were under at tent at the Spenard Farmers Market!