Prepare the pretzel dough according to the recipe instructions. Place it in a proofing bucket with a tight-sealing lid, and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
When you are ready to bake, ;ine a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper, grease it lightly with cooking oil spray, and set it aside.
Prepare the filling(s).
Place the peanut butter or Nutella in a pastry bag fitted with a small, plain piping tip (with an opening 1/4-inch in diameter). If using both peanut butter and Nutella, place each in a separate piping bag, and use half as much of each spread. Set the bags aside.
Shape and fill the dough.
Turn out the chilled pretzel dough on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until a bit smoother.
Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a ball as illustrated in this gluten free bread shaping video. Divide each ball of dough into 4 equal pieces.
Work with one piece of dough at a time, and cover the rest loosely with a towel to prevent them from drying out. Pat each piece of dough into a rectangle about 9 inches long, sprinkling lightly with flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
Starting on one short side of the dough, pipe a line of the filling about 1/2-inch wide in the center of the dough from one side to the other. If using both peanut butter and Nutella, pipe a line of each in the same manner, each about 1/4-inch wide. Enclose the filling tightly in the rectangle of dough by folding both long sides of the dough over the filling, and pinch to secure and create a cylinder. Rock the cylinder gently back and forth to seal.
Repeat with the 3 other pieces of dough. Using a floured bench scraper or sharp knife, slice each of the 4 ropes into 1 1/2-inch bite-sized pieces of dough. The filling will be peeking out the sides of each bite a bit.
Place the bite-sized pieces of dough on the prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart from one another.
Dust all of the shaped pieces of dough lightly with flour, then cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set in a warm, draft-free location to rise until nearly doubled in size (about 40 minutes).
Boil and bake the pretzel bites.
As the dough nears the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large pot, make the baking soda bath by dissolving the baking soda and salt in approximately 6 cups of water, and bringing it to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.
Once the dough has finished rising, place the risen bites a few at a time in the boiling baking soda bath for about 30 seconds per side. Remove the boiled dough with a strainer and return the pieces to the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven, and bake until golden brown all over (about 12 minutes).
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan briefly before serving with the Hot Fudge Sauce for dipping.
Notes
About the salt.If you don’t plan to serve all the pretzels immediately after baking, consider baking without a sprinkling of coarse salt on top of the dough entirely, or with a very light sprinkling of it.Salt on the top of bread draws moisture out of the bread and causes it to go stale more quickly. If you do eliminate the salt (or most of it) during baking, simply brush the pretzels with more melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt before serving.