Years ago, when my husband and I were newly married and still attending Brigham Young University, we had some great friends who shared a great pretzel recipe with us. We've made it countless times in the last twenty years...sometimes plain, sometimes cheese-stuffed, always good. But a couple of years ago we decided to try using our favorite Nathan's Hot Dogs as a filler. It was a tasty experiment and has turned out to be one of my favorite ways to eat pretzels!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/3 cup brown sugar
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
coarse kosher salt
1 egg white, beaten
Nathan's Hot Dogs (8)
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. baking soda
1. Mix water and yeast until dissolved. Stir in brown sugar. Slowly add flour, stirring constantly.
2. Knead dough till stretchy and smooth.
3. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a log 1" longer than the hot dog (the dough will stretch as you pull it over the ends). Flatten the log and place the hot dog on the dough. Fold in the ends, then fold one long side over tightly. Roll the whole thing over onto the remaining flap. Pinch edges to seal, getting out as much air as possible.
4. Fill a pan with the water and baking soda and bring to a simmer/gentle boil. The pot should be wide enough to allow for the pretzel dog to sit "comfortably" inside. (They get cranky if they're not comfortable.) Carefully lower one pretzel dog at a time into the water, making sure to gently move it around a bit at first so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Allow it to bathe for 30 seconds, then carefully lift it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. Continue until all 8 have taken their baths.
5. Brush each pretzel dog with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle it with the salt also. Place the pretzel dogs on the cookie sheet and bake in a 475 degree oven for 8-12 minutes.
Makes 8 pretzel dogs
Source: Kari Hafen
Incidentally, if any of you know Kari Hafen from Alaska, PLEASE let her know I'm looking for her. We lost touch after BYU.
very cool recipe! looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteSo...I made these and I have a couple of questions. (First of all, I learned a lot and they were delectable!) When you say 2 Cups of water--my dogs were not fully submerged. Are they supposed to be? And if they are NOT supposed to be, do you flip yours and do 30 secs on each side? I used a medium sauce pan and the dogs just fit, so I don't think it was the size of the pan. Would you suggest doing 4 Cups water to bathe them?
ReplyDeleteWhat tool do you use to flip/get them out? I tried forks and wooden spoons (and a combo of both). Not sure which was better.
We used Coarse Sea Salt and it was tasty!
I can't wait to try these again! My kids really liked them, too, and that is ALWAYS a plus!
Question #1: The 2 cups was what the original recipe has and works for the pan I use. You can certainly use more water and baking soda. My pretzel dogs don't stay completely submerged; the tops are usually above water for part of the time. I don't flip them.
DeleteQuestion #2: I have a flat, slotted, roundish scooper thingy that I use (yes, that is the technical term). It needs to be something that will get underneath most of the pretzel dog and lift up and out with as little damage as possible. That dough becomes a little slimy and swollen in the soda bath.
Glad they were tasty!