Nothing screams game day snack quite like a salted soft pretzel.

One of our favorite weekend snacks are these homemade salted soft pretzels. Perfectly doughy with just the right amount of salt. Grab a pretzel, your favorite dip and turn on the game.

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

2 Tbsp active dry yeast

6 Tbsp packed light-brown sugar

4 Tbsp butter, at room temperature

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus an up to an additional 1/2 cup as needed

2 tsp fine salt

1/3 cup baking soda

3 cups warm water

coarse salt , to taste

6 Tbsp butter , melted

Dipping sauce for serving , optional*

Warm milk in a microwave safe bowl in microwave (or alternately over stove top in a small saucepan) until temperature of milk reaches 110 degrees, about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on HIGH power.

1. Pour milk along with yeast and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk together until yeast has dissolved, let rest 10-15 minutes. Add 4 tbsp softened butter, 1 cup flour and 2 tsp fine sea salt to mixture and using the dough attachment, stir until blended.

2. Add remaining 3 1/2 cups flour and kneaded mixture on medium low speed until elastic.

3. Mix in up to an additional 1/2 cup flour, as needed, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.. Punch dough down several times to release any air pockets.

5. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces* and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

6. Roll each piece out into a long, thin rope about 32 - 36 inches long. Form dough rope into a pretzel shape.

7. In a shallow bowl, whisk together baking soda and warm water then fully immerse pretzel into water mixture, lift and allow excess water to drip off***.

8. Place on prepared baking sheet, reshape as needed and sprinkle to taste with coarse salt. Repeat this process with remaining dough.

9. Bake pretzels in preheated oven 7 - 11 minutes until golden brown (note that you may only be able to cook a few at a time depending on baking sheet size) Remove from oven and brush top and bottom of pretzels with melted butter.

10. Serve warm with optional dipping sauce.