When I go to the mall I always want to get a fresh soft pretzel and they are very addictive aren't they? The very first soft pretzel I ever had was in Hawaii many many years ago at a mall called Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Hawaii. It was a life changing experience for me.. OK maybe not life changing but it was really really yummy! I've been addicted to them since the fist bite. Its always fun to get them at the mall but sometimes I just want to eat a soft pretzel without going to the mall!! Especially in the weekend when the mall is packed with people!! (I must be getting old because crowd didn't bother me before) So why not make your own pretzel when you want them. BTW you can freeze your dough and thaw it out when you want to eat it! or freeze the unbuttered baked ones and microwave them! I will point out later when you should freeze them! hope you try it and enjoy the fresh warm soft pretzel!!
Dough:
1-1/2cup warm water
1-1/8tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1-1/8 tsp salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups all purpose flour
soda bath:
2-3 Cups warm water
2-3Tbsp baking soda
Topping:
2-4 Tbsp butter melted
coarse salt to taste
in a bowl, mix warm water, yeast, sugar and salt and mix well until dissolved and let sit until they get foamy.
meantime, in a large bowl, mix the flours and make a well in the center of the flour.
when the yeast mixture is foamy like this its ready.
Pour the yeast mixture into the well
Mix well
Once its incorporated, use your hands to knead.
If the dough is too stiff, add a little bit of warm water, if its too loose, add a little flour.
cover with wrap
cover with towel and let rise in oven 25-35 min until double in size.
while waiting for the dough to rise, make the bath. if you are planning on making big pretzel, you'll need to make your bath bigger so use 3cups warm water and 3TBSP baking Soda and mix until dissolved.
like this.. clear as water!
I normally have a HUGE chopping board I use for baking but I forgot to clean it this morning so I used parchment paper taped to my counter to use as my rolling board. You'll need a good size area if you want to make a pretzel like the ones at the mall.
dough has doubled. Now preheat your oven to 350F.
on the board of your choice
Cut the dough. Here is where you would freeze the dough if you want to freeze it.
wrap it like this and put it in a ziplock bag and freeze. When you want to make pretzel, thaw it out, let rise then cut and roll.
Cut using bench scraper
cut using pizza cutter
Roll roll roll roll roll.. it should be skinny and looooong
now shape them, easiest is upside down U
turn it up
You can twist once but I like to twist it twice.
let the pretzel take a dip in the bath
on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet, let rest for 10-15 mins then bake at 350F 8-10 min until golden brown and also depending on how crispy you want your pretzel. If you like it soft 8 is ideal, if you like crispy 10mins.
brush the baked pretzel with melted butter.. or freeze the pretzel before brushing with butter!!!
this camera angle makes my hand looks giant and the pretzel little but they are about the size of my hand.
sprinkle with Kosher or coarse salt. I like lightly salted not much more..
YUM!
I also did the bite version. don't roll too thin, dip it in the bath, cut and bake 8 min.
Butter and lightly salt them
I had this cute little popcorn bag so I filled it with the bite size for my little one who LOVES them!!
cool for about 5 min on wire rack then take it out of the pan and cool completely on the rack. (you will be tempted to eat it while its hot, and if you give in and do, it may seem little gummy but it will be perfect soft, fluffy yet chewy once it cools completely. 
