Big, Soft, Buttery Pretzels

Yesterday the girls and I went to the mall and just as they always do when we go to the mall, the girls were begging me for those big, soft pretzels from Auntie Anne's. You know the ones, right? I admit, many times I give in because I love them almost as much as the girls do. But yesterday we were on a mission {and a BUDGET!} and it just wasn't in the cards to get pretzels while we were out. But I remembered that one day a long time ago I had found a recipe for the pretzels and had saved it. So I told the girls we would look it up and try to make them when we got back home.

Back at home I looked up the recipe and realized that, thankfully, I had ALL the ingredients we needed to make Big, Soft, Buttery pretzels. YAY! {recipe will be at the end}

Here are the girls rolling out and shaping their dough ...
You can shape them any way you wish, but I like mine in the standard pretzel shape.

Here is the first batch out of the oven, we could NOT wait to dig in to the warm, buttery goodness!

First tastings ...

Here is the next batch, the girls got creative with their pretzel designs!

The verdict: ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! The girls said they tasted JUST like Auntie Anne's! The recipe made 12 pretzels so we have some leftovers for today, yay!

Here is the recipe:

I've separated the ingredients based on the steps of making the recipe. Make sure to follow the steps in order.

STEP 1:

4 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 & 1/4 cups warm water

STEP 2:

5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

STEP 3:

1 TBSP veg oil

STEP 4

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

1/4 cup course salt for topping

STEP 5:

butter

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and the 1 tsp of sugar in the warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 min.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, and salt. DO NOT add the baking soda to this. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture. Mix and form into a ball kneading the dough for about 7-8 min. If the mixture seems to dry, add 1 or 2 TBSP of water, just a little at a time until the dough comes together well.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl and put the ball of dough in it, turning it to coat it with oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for about an hour so it will rise. It will be about double in size when done.

4. When risen, turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and shape into your desired pretzel shapes. Dissolve the baking soda into the hot water in a medium sized bowl. Once the dough is all shaped you will give each pretzel shape a quick dip into the bowl of baking soda mix. After you have given them each a quick dip, place them on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

5. Bake for 8 min or until the tops are lightly browned. When you remove from the oven brush the tops with butter and serve warm.

ENJOY!!!