Amazing Soft Pretzels

I have always loved soft pretzels. The best part about going shopping for school clothes with my mom and sister when I was young, was getting a snack from the pretzel place at the mall. And so it was an exciting day when I learned that my mom had received a great pretzel recipe from a friend. It was definitely time to make them.

Here are the ingredients:
1 cup + 2 Tbs. water
3 cups flour
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Mix these ingredients together, then knead the dough until it gets very smooth. At that point, grease a bowl, but the dough in it, cover the bowl with a towel, and put it in a warm place to rise for about an hour. After that, divide the dough into 8 pieces.

Roll each piece into maybe a 12" snake and twist it into a pretzel shape like this:

In the meantime, boil 2 quarts of water mixed with 1/2 cup of baking soda.
Drop 2 or 3 pretzels at a time into the boiling water and leave them there for 15 seconds.

Take them out and let them drain on a paper towel for a couple minutes. Then, put them on a greased baking sheet, sprinkle them with coarse salt, and bake them at 425F for 8-10 minutes.
Eat right away!