Pretzels

I know I said I would post this forever ago but I wanted to get a beautiful picture to go along with it... too bad I keep forgetting to snap a shot of them. So here's the picture-less recipe.

INGREDIENTS
4 teaspoons active dry yeast (I haven't tried using half yeast yet)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. (I've found it needs about 4-5 more tablespoons of water) Knead the dough until smooth (or just let it mix in a stand mixer for 5 minutes or so.) Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. (Don't skip this step, it's what makes the pretzels golden brown)Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake at 450 (425 if your oven cooks hot like mine) for 8-10 minutes, until browned.

ENJOY!

PS. Don't you just love it when you hit spellcheck at the end of a post and it says "no misspellings found." It's my favorite. It doesn't happen very often for me.