German Pretzels

We have some friends in Sexsmith who moved from Germany around 3 years ago. They come and visit us in Edmonton fairly frequently and Hanna just loves to go to the German bakery in downtown Edmonton. One time, she wanted us to try German pretzels, so she bought some and brought them over for breakfast the next morning and boy were they good! They were fairly thin pretzels actually and had a doughy center but a chewy brown crust, and you ate them with butter. They were so good, that I actually found myself craving them for the past couple of days. Not being able to put up with it for too much longer (and not wanting to drive to Edmonton to buy some) I decided to find a recipe to make them myself, and they actually turned out just fantastic!! They were so delicious, that I wrote them down in my recipe book immediately! It's quite a process actually. You have to let the yeast sit in the flour for 15 minutes, then you have to leave the dough (once it's all mixed) for a half hour to rise, then once you have the pretzels formed, they sit in the fridge uncovered for an hour, and then once that is over, you boil each pretzel in baking soda water for 10 seconds on each side, and then bake them. It's a 3 hour process, but really not that difficult, and besides, it's so rewarding when it's all finished :) Take a look!And actually, both my parents and I think this recipe is better than the one they used at the German bakery. These were a little bit more doughy and less tough, which makes them much more delicious ;)
If you're interested in the recipe, here's the link
*Side Note* If you do ever decided to make these, make sure you sprinkle on a light amount of salt, the pretzels are already salty from the baking soda water, so to add too much (like I did) makes it just a tad too salty.