3 cups bread flour

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup baking soda

1 egg

Large crystal salt (or Pretzel Salt if you're feeling fancy)

Sesame seeds 

What to do:

Combine water, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the yeast in a bowl.  Mix until the sugar and yeast are both pretty well dissolved.  Let that sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast have really sprung to life and you've got some good foam forming on the water.

In a large bowl, mix the flours and the salt together.  Pour in the yeast/water mixture along with the melted butter. Stir to combine and then get in there with your hands.  Since the water should still be warm, this is fun dough to play around with - warm and soothing.  Once all of the flour is incorporated, you can turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it for about 10 minutes.

Once you've kneaded the dough, let it sit on the counter while you clean out the bowl and then oil it with about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Place the dough in the oiled bowl and roll it around in there to cover it completely.  Let dough rise on the counter until doubled - about an hour.  I didn't cover the dough since it was pretty hot and humid in the apartment that night, but on a cooler or dryer day I would have thrown some plastic wrap over the bowl.  

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and bring about 8-10 cups water to a boil in a large pot.  Dissolve the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar in the water.  Once the water's boiling, turn it down to a simmer and add the baking powder.  This is really fun since it bubbles and causes a real scientific reaction.  The baking soda in the water is what gives the pretzels that yummy pretzel taste on the outside.  

Let the water simmer while you turn the dough out onto the counter and very gently deflate it.  Cut the dough into 8 equal chunks and then roll those chunks into ropes about 18-20 inches long.  It's best to do this on a non-floured surface because the tackiness of the dough helps you with the rolling and stretching.  I did some pseudo-jump-rope motions with the dough to help get it to stretch out.  Pretzels are pretty forgiving, but just be wary of rips or thinner sections of the rope.  Make the ropes into any shapes you'd like your pretzels to be in.  You can go with the traditional twist, or make letters, which is really fun.