Dissolve yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or cup. Let sit for a few minutes.
Combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water with yeast and vegetable oil. Stir with a spoon or Danish dough whisk and then use your hands to form the dough into a ball. (Can also mix in stand mixer with paddle and dough hook).
Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly floured surface. Dough will be nice and smooth when it's ready. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl (1 Tbsp) cover it, and store it in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.
When dough has risen, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Make a baking soda bath for the pretzels by combining the baking soda with the hot water and stir until baking soda is mostly dissolved.
Remove the dough from the bowl and cut into 8 pieces.
Shape the soft baked pretzels as follows:
Roll each section into a long 24"-28" rope.
Bring the ends up and twist twice.
Bring the ends down and pinch firmly.
Dip each pretzel into the water bath solution. Drip dry. Arrange on 2 baking sheets that have been sprayed with non stick cooking spray or covered with parchment paper.
If you want salted pretzels, sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt. Don't salt any pretzels that you plan to coat with cinnamon sugar.
Bake one pan at a time. Bake 5 minutes, then spin the pan halfway around and bake another 4 or 5 minutes or until golden.
Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.
If you want the cinnamon/sugar coating, brush with butter and sprinkle heave coating of cinnamon/sugar onto the entire surface of the pretzel.