Pretzels

In a large bowl, I put some yeast, flour, brown sugar, warm water. When bubbly, I added more flour (some of it was high altitude, whole wheat), salt, a bit of oil. Added flour until it was able to turn out onto the flour covered counter. Kneaded, put in a bowl to rise. This is pretty much how I make bread, with the exception of using brown sugar to feed the yeast instead of white sugar or honey. After dough doubled, I punched it down, and divided it into 16 pieces (I used about 2 cups water, and enough flour to be no longer sticky). I rolled each piece into a rope, formed into a pretzel shape, pinching the ends so they wouldn't come apart. They raised a bit. Then I filled a large pot about 3/4 of the way with water, added a lot of baking soda (about 2/3 cup). I placed each pretzel into the water and let boil about 30-45 seconds, turning about halfway through. I took them out with a slotted spoon, drained breifly, then put back on baking sheet that I had sprinkled with cornmeal. The cornmeal acts as tiny ball bearings, making removal after baking much easier. I sprinkled each with coarse kosher salt. Baked at about 375-400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned.
Cheese dip was simply jarred processed cheese, Miracle Whip, coarse mustard.