i made soft pretzels and they were great in every respect except that they tasted too sweet. no sugar was added, ever, period.
the only problem i had was that i had one packet of yeast, which i thought was fresh by date. i tried to proof the correct amount of yeast and it seemed to be slow; not many bubbles. perhaps my kitchen is cold [we keeep the house at 62]. so i added more powdered yeast and placed the cup into the oven with the oven light on, which is a measurable temp of 74 degrees. proofed well; bubbly.
mixed up the dough [bread flour], and put it into the oven to rise. watched a james bond movie and fell asleep. instead of rising for 50 minutes and doubling in size, the dough rose for 4 hours and seems to have quadrupled in size. baked the pretzels the next morning. great brown crust; soft and chewy, but sweet. what made them sweet?? too much yeast; rose to long etc??