Recipe

Old Fashioned Pretzels

Ingredients

Dissolve the yeast into one-eight cup of warm water in a large bowl, then stir in the rest of the warm water and the brown sugar. Slowly add the flour, kneading with a dough hook or your hands and then place on a floured board and knead till smooth and somewhat shiny.
Use greased cookie sheets or ungreased baking stones (stones are better for nicer color). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Fill a 4-quart saucepan with water and one-half cup of baking soda. Bring it to a boil. Taking a small ball of dough, a bit bigger than a walnut, begin working it into a rope. Bring the ends together in a U shape and cross the ends and twist them to create a traditional pretzel shape. You can have fun practicing this step with the kids till they get it right. Though, any shape the littlest ones come up with still taste just a good as the other ones. Place the very ends firmly into the dough to keep it from coming apart while being dipped or baked.
Using a slotted spatula, lower each pretzel, one at a time into the boiling water and let it stay in the water for 15 to 20 seconds. Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt or other toppings if you like, for instance, nuts, seeds, cinnamon sugar or Parmesan cheese. Bake a full sheet for 10 minutes or until golden brown.