Pretzel dogs

1. Combine the warm water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast is foamy and begins to smell of yeast.

2. Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and, on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

4. Place bowl in a warm area (near the oven, perhaps) and let dough rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

6. In a large pot, bring the 3 cups of water and the baking soda to a roiling boil.

7. Place the dough on a greased surface, and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around a half hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough.

8. Alternatively, to make regular pretzels, shape the rope into a U shape, cross the ends over each other and fold the twisted ends back onto the bottom of the U. Again, pinch the dough together to form a seal. Place each shaped pretzel on the parchment lined baking sheet.

9. Boil the shaped pretzels and pretzel dogs, one at a time, in the baking soda water for 30 seconds each. Using a flat spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any extra baking soda mixture to drip off.

10. Place the boiled pretzel dogs back on the parchment lined baking sheets.

11. Brush with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with pretzel or kosher salt.

12. Bake until golden brown, roughly 14 to 15 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving. Serve with a variety of mustards.