In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, combine yeast and warm milk together until yeast is dissolved. Add in brown sugar and melted butter and mix until combined. Pour in 4 cups of flour and add ¼ more at a time until dough pulls away from bowl. Dough should be sticky but not sticky enough that it sticks to your hands. Once dough is ready, knead for 5 minutes on low. Take dough out of bowl and spray bowl with cooking spray. Form dough into a ball and place in greased bowl to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. (It should be almost doubled in size) I also like to spray the top of my dough with a little bit of cooking spray so it doesn't dry out.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. Combine baking soda and warm water together in a large bowl, set aside.

Once dough is ready, punch it down to release all air pockets. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces. The easiest way to do this is cut the dough down in half, then those pieces in half, then those into thirds. Roll the pieces of dough out to be 32 - 34 inches long and form each strip into a pretzel shape. Once each pretzel is shaped, drop them in the baking soda mixture for a few seconds. Shake excess water off with your hands and place on prepared baking sheet. Immediately sprinkle with salt. Repeat this process until all 12 pretzels are ready. (You will likely only be able to fit 6 pretzels on each baking sheet.) Bake pretzels for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown on top. Rotate pan after 5 minutes to ensure they are browning evenly. While pretzels are baking, get melted butter ready.

Once pretzels are ready, immediately out of the oven dunk the tops and sides into melted butter, Alternatively, you can brush the butter on. Sprinkle with some more coarse salt.

Pretzels are best served warm and fresh. Will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container.