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1
Warm milk in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove top, until temperature of milk reaches 110 F. If you heat it in the microwave this will take about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on high power.
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2
Pour milk and yeast into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk together until yeast has dissolved. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, the softened butter, a cup of the flour and the salt to the milk mixture. Using the whisk attachment, stir until blended. Switch attachment to a dough hook, add remaining flour and knead the mixture on medium low speed until elastic. Mix in up to an additional 1/2 cup flour, as needed, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I only needed 1/4 cup more.
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3
Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
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4
Preheat oven to 450 F. Line two baking sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper. Punch the dough down several times. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Cover the divided dough loosely with plastic wrap, to prevent it from drying out. Roll each piece out into a 6 inch log. I did this on a non-floured surface.
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5
In a shallow bowl, whisk together baking soda and warm water then dunk each pretzel stick into the water mixture and allow excess to drip off. Place pretzels on the prepared baking sheet, score each stick 3 times and sprinkle with some coarse salt. Repeat this process with remaining sections of dough.
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6
Bake pretzels in the preheated oven for 7-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush top and bottom of pretzels with melted butter. Serve with any dipping sauces you like. We had ours with cheddar cheese sauce.
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7
Adapted from Yammie's Noshery, Food Network, and Cooking Classy.
