Soft Giant Pretzels

Oh man, these take me back to when I was 15 and worked at Pretzelmaker. I LOVED those pretzels. Mmmmm... Anyway, tonight my husband said he REALLY wanted a soft pretzel so I thought, "I bet I could make one!" and ran upstairs to my good friend, allrecipes.com. Sure enough, it didn't disappoint and I had all of the ingredients on hand! Unfortunately, my quick pretzel flipping and folding skills are lacking. I'll have to work on that. But they sure tasted good and were super easy!

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 30 min
Ready In: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cups water (70 to 80 degrees F)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 quarts water
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• butter/course salt/cinnamon/sugar/whatever you want on your pretzel
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
   
2. (The original recipe says to use a bread mixture, but I don't have one, so I improvised.) Mix yeast, water, and sugar together to dissolve. Add flour and knead until well mixed. Cover and place on warming oven for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, grease cookie sheet.
   
3. Divide dough into eight balls and roll into rope on a lightly floured surface. Form pretzel shape or cut into bite-sized pieces.
   
4. In a shallow saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels into boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spatula and drain on paper towels.
5. Transfer pretzels to the greased baking sheet and bake in preheated over for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Lightly brush with butter and sprinkle on course salt or cinnamon/sugar mixture.
   

Serves: 8