Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pretzel Dogs


These make a fun after-school snack (or lunch, shhh, that's our little secret) or would be perfect for a finger food for a party. My two younger kids ate the meat out of them and left the bread (which they do with corn dogs too) but my older kids couldn’t get enough! They are great for adults, too. I love getting pretzels at the mall and these fill that craving (and dare I say, taste better?) for much less money out of my pocket. If you didn’t want to do the L’il Smokies in them, you could just do regular pretzel bites or full sized pretzels. Also, I didn't think they needed any dipping sauce, but if you are a dipping kind of person, cheese sauce, barbeque sauce, or even ketchup would be great with these. 

Pretzel Dogs

1 bag L’il Smokies (like these)
1½ cups warm water
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
4 ½ cups all purpose flour
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl

For finishing:
Cooking spray
10 cups water
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Kosher salt

In a stand mixer, combine the warm water, sugar, salt, and yeast using the paddle attachment until the sugar and yeast are dissolved. Slowly add the flour and butter until the dough just comes together. Then switch to the dough hook and let it knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. Take dough out of bowl, lightly coat the bowl with oil, and put the dough back in the bowl and turn so coated with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 50-55 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.

While you are waiting for the water is coming to a boil punch down the dough and knead for a few minutes. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into half and continue cutting pieces into half until you have eight balls of dough.

Open the package of Li’l Smokies and drain the extra liquid. Then pat dry with a towel.  
Working with one piece of dough at a time roll into 24 inch long rope. Take one Li’l Smokie at a time and wrap the dough around it and cut off the rope for just enough dough to go around the Smokie (this took me about 3 inches each). Pinch the ends together so they don’t come apart when they cook.  Put 4-6 at a time into the boiling water and let boil for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place, seam side down, on the cookie sheet. Continue until all the Smokies are used. If you have any extra, cut into small pieces (for regular pretzel bites) and boil for 30 seconds as well.

After all the dough has been boiled, beat one egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon water and brush on the top of each piece. Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until the dough is a dark golden brown.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Annie's Eats

3 comments:

Plant-based Cooking said...

Hey, my kids would love these just as pretzels bites. Mmm.

Melissa said...

Yeah, they are really good as plain pretzel bites, too.

Beth said...

I am going to have to make these! and btw, the little hand holding one is just precious!!!

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