Almost-Famous Soft Pretzels (Auntie Anne's Copy Cat)

I'm completely in love with Auntie Anne's pretzels so when I saw this recipe on the Food Network's website, I had to try it. They were absolutely fantastic and almost a dead ringer for the real thing. My son thanked me three times for making them. Note: I brushed them with butter at the end instead of dipping them, and they were still great!

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 6 pretzels

Ingredients

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

Directions

1. 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.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons of the butter and soften; stir into mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough.
3. 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 double in size, about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly flour surface. (If dough seems tight, cover and let rise until it relaxes.) Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece in 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.
5. Dissolve the baking soda in the water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with coarse salt.
6. Bake until golden, 10-12 minutes.
7. Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter in a shallow dish. Dip the hot pretzels in the butter, turning to coat; place on a wire rack to let excess butter to drip off. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce or cream cheese.