With a bunch of experimentation I finally came up with this method/recipe to have Pretzels as good as the one I grew up with in Germany :)
I found, for example, that using real lye makes all the difference and let's face it: using dangerous chemicals is half the fun!
Interesting! I don't think I ever had butter dunked pretzels. In Germany the most popular way to eat pretzels is to cut them open, put butter on and put the two halves back together: Butterbrezel :)
I agree, the diastatic malt made a huge difference for the dough and to get the chewy texture right. Getting real lye helped me get the crusty exterior with deep mahogany brown color. Although, I'm sure you get right onto the terror watch list, it was totally worth it to order those 2 lbs of Sodium Hydroxide :)