In your stand mixer, whisk the yeast into the warm water and allow to sit for 1 minutes.

Whisk in salt, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Add in 3 cups of flour, slowly, one cup at a time, and mix with the dough hook on your stand mixer.

Add 1 cup more of flour, and mix.  Continue to add flour in ¼ cup increments until the dough is not longer sticky.  (It took about 4 ½ cups for us).  Your dough is ready for kneading, once you poke the dough ball and it bounces back.

Place the dough onto a floured surface.  Knead the dough for 3 minutes and shape into a ball.  Cover lightly with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

While the dough is resting, you can start the baking soda/water mixture by pouring 9 cups water and ½ cup baking soda in a deep saute pan or dutch oven, place on the stove top, and bring to a boil.

Roll the dough into a 20 inch rope.  Take the ends, bring them together, forming a circle, then cross the ends looping them into a pretzel shape.

Once you have formed the twelve dough pretzels, taking the pretzels one at a time, pick up with a large slotted spatula, and dunk them into the boiling water/baking soda mix for about 20-30 seconds (no more than 30 seconds).  You will see the dough start to puff up, this is what you want.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown in your preheated 400 degree oven.

Immediately after removing from the oven, feel free to rub butter over each pretzel and watch it melt on top, creating the most incredibly buttery and delicious homemade treat.