Pretzel Mummy Dogs

1. Warm water in a small bowl until it reaches 110-115º F. Sprinkle yeast on top and whisk together. Set aside for 10 minutes until it starts to look foamy. If the mixture does not foam, start over with a new packet of yeast.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt together.
3. Slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, followed by the melted butter.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix on low-medium speed until the dough starts to stick together and pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add a little more flour at this point.
5. Once dough starts to stick to the paddle, switch out the paddle for the hook attachment and mix on medium speed for 8 minutes. Dough should be tacky but not sticky.
6. Coat a large bowl with cooking spray or vegetable oil. Shape the dough into a ball and gently place in bowl, flipping the dough over to coat the top of it as well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 1 - 1 ½ hours, until it has doubled in size.
7. Preheat oven to 400º F.
8. Gently push down the dough with your fist so it deflates. Transfer the circle of dough to a pastry mat and cut it in half. Set one half of dough aside under plastic wrap. 
9. Cut the other half of dough into half again and keep cutting the pieces in half until you have 8 equal triangles of dough. Carefully roll out each portion into a long rope that is about 10" long. These are your ropes. Set aside under plastic wrap.
10. Take the other large half of dough and roll it out with a rolling pin. Use a pastry cutter, pizza cutter, or knife to cut strips of various lengths, some even 1/4-1/2" thin. These are your strips.
11. Place all hot dogs on a plate. Carefully wipe them each with a paper towel to absorb any extra juices.
12. Place water and baking soda in a medium pan and heat until it reaches a boil.
13. Find the flattest side of the hot dog and let that be the back since it will lay flat on the pan best that way. You'll add 1 bigger piece, a rope (the dough you rolled out like a pretzel that will bake puffier) and 1-2 strips (the flatter pieces you rolled out that are better for finer detail) to each hot dog to give it variation. Make sure to leave a space for the face when wrapping these around the hot dog.
14. Start by placing one rope of dough on that flat under side of the hot dog and hold it there as you gently wrap it around the the dog at a slight angle 2 times before bringing it back up at an angle the opposite way. You want it to meet up with the dough you started with on the underside. Gently press it against that part of the dough so it sticks. Cut off any excess if it's too long. You want the dough to be somewhat tight so it doesn't gape.
15. Now take a skinnier strip of dough and repeat a similar process but at a different angle so it adds some variation and fills in other areas. You can add more than one skinny strip of dough if needed but you want to leave some hot dog exposed as the dough will expand as it bakes. Repeat this process with all hot dogs. Transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet.
16. Turn the baking soda solution down to a simmer and use a spider skimmer to gently transfer each hot dog to the pan, one at a time. It's important that they keep their shape and stay intact as they're transferred as it will be hard to adjust their shape once they're dipped into the solution.
17. Cook each mummy dog for about 30 seconds before placing back on the parchment lined baking sheet and before transferring them to a new parchment lined baking sheet that isn't wet.
18. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter on each pretzel and top with kosher salt.
19. Bake mummy dogs for 16-18 minutes until golden brown.
20. Once mummy dogs are cooled transfer  some mustard to a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #1 or other fine piping tip and carefully pipe it on the bag of the eyes. Gently place two eyes on each hot dog to make a mummy face. Enjoy!