• In a mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water and stir until dissolved.
• Add sugar and salt to the bowl and stir until dissolved.
• Add flour to the mixture, and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic.
• Let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, in a large bowl, prepare a water bath by mixing 2 cups of warm water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Stir it often.
• After the dough has risen, pinch off small pieces of dough and roll them into long ropes, about ½ inch or less in thickness.
• Shape the ropes into pretzel shapes.
• Dip each pretzel into the soda solution and place them on a greased baking sheet.
• Allow the pretzels to rise again.
• Bake the pretzels in the oven at 450°F for 10 minutes or until golden.
• After baking, brush the pretzels with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt.

For Auntie Anne's Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels:

• Skip the last step for the regular pretzels (butter and salt) and continue with the steps below.
• Melt a stick of butter in a shallow bowl (large enough to fit the entire pretzel).
• In another shallow bowl, create a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
• Dip each pretzel into the melted butter, coating both sides generously.
• Then dip the butter-coated pretzel into the cinnamon mixture.
• Remember, the longer and thinner you make the dough rope, the more like Auntie Anne's pretzels they will be.