Pretzels of Doom

Since getting a job at our little dirt mall, I've been binging on mall pretzels. You know the ones I'm talking about. Overpriced and dripping with butter, sure to give you heartburn 20 seconds after you have that last bite. But sooooo hard to resist. So, being in a holiday baking mood, I looked for a not-too-hard recipe to try out myself. And this one from AllRecipes.com did not disappoint. They taste so super buttery (even though there's no buttter involved) and are amazingly soft and fluffy. I made mine smaller than in the recipe, so I ended up having 16 pretzels instead of a dozen. And Steve and I successfully polished off all of them within 24 hours. Soooooo good. I made another batch today and immediately stuck them in the freezer for safekeeping until Christmas eve, when I'll serve them up with some Guinness cheese fondue.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
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. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). 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. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned