Pretzel Update

So making pretzels just taught me the difference between bread flour and regular flour. With the first batch, I actually didn't make it exactly to the recipe. I used 2 c. regular flour and 2 c. bread flour. The pretzels came out puffy and chewy, with lots of air pockets, but definitely still light and fluffy. Last night I made them again because we still had 1 1/2 packets of yeast left. I was out of regular flour so used 4 c of bread flour, and what a difference! These pretzels came out super chewy, had a nice crust on the outside, and were much more dense. When you broke open the pretzel, there were hardly any air pockets. The bread flour has more proteins in it, which makes it more glutenous. Think of it like more rubber bands on a microscopic level. The more the quantity of rubber bands, the harder it is to stretch. So, in theory, the more bread flour that is used, the less the yeast can "breathe" air pockets, resulting in a totally different consistency. Very Alton Brown. I think I need to make with all regular flour and see just how tender and fluffy they get!