Soft Pretzels like Auntie Anne's

I always love the smell of fresh pretzels in the mall, even when you’re not hungry my tummy still growls at the smell of them. I thought it would be fun while my nephew Josh was over that we could make pretzels. Like most kids he never knew how easy it was to make. You can make these in any shape you want. We did the traditional salted ones and boy are they yummy. The only change I would make is don’t use a whole stick of butter, you really only need a half. There’s also one other change which you’ll see below in red.

Soft Pretzels like Auntie Anne's
(Adapted from Robbie’s Recipes)

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1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1 dash salt
1 1/2 cups 110 degree water
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls. baking soda
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup melted real butter
toppings (see Notes, below)

Combine first 4 ingredients; allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Stir flour to mixture and knead for 5 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Divide dough into 8-12 equal-size pieces; roll each piece into a rope; shape each rope into a pretzel. (They fall apart when you dip them so we found it’s easier to dip the rope then shape them on the cookie sheet.)

In a shallow dish, stir baking soda into warm water; dip pretzels into mixture (or brush mixture over pretzels); lay coated pretzel onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 550 degree oven for 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush melted butter onto hot pretzels.

Notes: For salted pretzels, sprinkle with pretzel salt or Kosher salt. For cinnamon-sugar pretzels, stir 2 Tbls. honey into the melted butter before brushing on pretzels, then sprinkle with a mixture of 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon. For Parmesan pretzels, sprinkle with a mixture of 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1 tsp. garlic salt; serve with marinara sauce.