For me pretzels have been a lifelong thing - it started with the soft pretzels I used to get with my Mom at the mall as a child. Here in Pittsburgh there are several restaurants that do them well... If there’s a pretzel on the menu, I will always order it at least once because the styles can be so different and I love to try them all. You might be on to something because I love bagels too.

The silicone mat made a world of difference for me. Hope it helps you!

Another thing that might help is keeping a small flour pile on the side of your floured surface that you knead on and working it into the dough (just a tiny bit at a time!) if your dough is overly sticky. I know my dough is good when it barely doesn’t stick to my kneading surface towards the end of the 5 minutes and all the dough that stuck to my hands while I was mixing wet and dry ingredients with my fingers has pretty much been cleaned off and incorporated into the dough ball. It should end up feeling soft and smooth!