Copycat Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

Gather your ingredients.

Scald the milk in a small pot. Do not boil; just heat the milk until it is hot all of the way through.

Add the butter and sugar to the hot milk. Stir until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved. Set it aside and cool until just warm.

Add the yeast to the top of the milk mixture and allow it to soften for a few minutes.

Using the bread hook attachment on your stand mixer, add in the flour and salt and stir with the hook attachment until completely combined and a smooth ball forms.

Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and allow it to rise for one hour, or until the dough doubles in size. Then punch down the dough in the bowl.

Turn the ball of dough out onto a cutting board. Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces. If you are looking to make smaller pretzels, cut the dough into smaller pieces. This will give you more small pretzels. You need a decent size piece of dough to make the large, skinny pretzels that are Auntie Anne’s signature.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Roll a piece of the dough into a long and very skinny rope, about 36 inches long.

Loop the dough in half and then twist the ends together 2 or 3 times.

Pull the ends back over the loop to make the classic pretzel shape pressing the ends to make them stick.

Whisk together 2 cups of warm water and the baking soda in a shallow dish. Dip the pretzels into the baking soda bath. Flip and dip the other side.

Place the dipped pretzels onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You should be able to fit two or three onto each baking sheet.

Bake the pretzels for 7 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush the pretzels with melted butter.

Sprinkle them with coarse pretzel salt.

Dig in immediately! They are best when they are eaten hot and fresh out of the oven. You can serve them with mustard, nacho cheese sauce, or any savory or sweet dip.