Pretzel hot dogs

You remember the olden days when you would go to a mall and eat pretzels along with the most saltiest dips there are on the planet . Sometimes instead of the plain pretzels you would get hot dogs in pretzels...yeah these are the ones I made today. But I made the pretzels without yeast and they were super delicious. I served them with spicy mustard and the Boar's Head Deli Style Mustard with White Wine. They were so delicious.

If you want to make the pretzel the traditional way here you go Soft Pretzels

Pretzel hot dogs (All beef hot dogs baked in a yeast-less pretzel)

NO Yeast Pretzel dogs 

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups all purpose flour
2. 1/2 cup plain yogurt
3. Water for mixing the dough
4. 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
5. 1 teaspoon each of baking powder, baking soda
6. 1 tablespoon sugar
7. 3/4 teaspoon salt
8. 8 hot dogs

Ingredients for boiling water:

1. Deep pan with atleast 5 inches of water
2. 3 tablespoons salt
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda

Beat the yogurt along with lemon juice, sugar and salt. Sift the flour with baking soda and baking powder and mix into the yogurt mix. Add some water at a time until the dough comes together and it starts raising. Set aside for 15 minutes. Cut the dough into 8 parts.

 Start boiling the water the ingredients mentioned under boiling water.

Roll each piece of dough into an 8 inch log. Roll the hot hot diagonally so that most of it gets covered by dough. Drop it into the boiling water and try it a couple times within 1 minute. Drain onto a baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush the top of the pretzel dog with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt if desired and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown top is formed.

Enjoy with your  favorite mustard or cheese sauce

Since "a" person in my house does not like hot dogs I made a pretzel pocket for "the" person with deli turkey slices and provolone

No Yeast Cheese Turkey Pretzel Pocket

Soft Pretzels

The other day, we were watching some cartoon and the show was about saving snacks at the cinema theater from bad guys. And one of the snack items was soft pretzel. Those soft pretzels are so super expensive and I don't think they cost about 50% of it to the stores. Its all the labor that is involved.

Anyway, I made these super delicious soft pretzels today and they are flying off my kitchen counter faster than hot buns. The original recipe is by Alton brown but I made some small changes to the recipe

Home made Soft Pretzel

Home made Soft Pretzel

Ingredients

1. 1 -1 1/4 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
2. 1 tablespoon sugar
3. 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4. 1 package active dry yeast
5. 3 1/2 cups + about 1/2-1 cup extra
6. 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
7. Vegetable oil, for pan
8. 10 cups water
9. 1/2 cup baking soda
10. 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
11. Pretzel salt

Combine the sugar and water and add yeast and mix well. Set aside for 5 minutes or until frothy. Add the salt and melted butter and mix well. Add the flour and mix and knead for 5-7 minutes. Apply oil to your palm and roll the dough ball and also apply oil to a bowl. Cover and set aside for 1 hr until the dough doubles in volume.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll it into 14-18 in long rope. Make a "U" shape  and holding the ends cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U shape and a Pretzel is made

After getting a baking soda water dip

Fresh baked Pretzel

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.