Soft Pretzels

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt

Instructions:

• Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's about 110 degrees; pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes; stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon.

• mix in 2 tablespoons softened butter. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough.

• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

• Dissolve the baking soda in warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on to a greased baking sheet (or line the baking sheet with silpat or parchment) and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

• Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a shallow dish. Dip the hot pretzels in the butter, turning to coat; place on a wire rack to let excess butter drip off.

• Serve with mustard dipping sauce.