Hot Buttered Soft Pretzels (and Pretzel Dogs)

I've already made pretzel hot dog buns, and even though they were a success, they did come out way bigger than intended (so the hot dog to bun ratio was way off). That's why I couldn't resist wrapping the pretzel directly around the hot dog, eliminating any guess work. It was fun, tasty and cute, but unless it's a special occasion and the kid requests it, I probably won't take the time to do it again (considering I can open a package of hot dog buns in about two seconds).

HOT BUTTERED SOFT PRETZELS

(AND PRETZEL DOGS)

Yield: 8 large pretzels or 16 pretzel dogs

(or 4 large pretzels + 8 pretzel dogs)

Dough:

2 1/2 cups King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

7/8 to 1 cup warm water (use less in summer, more in winter—enough for soft dough)

Topping:

1 cup boiling water (for pretzel dogs, increase to 4 cups)

2 tablespoons baking soda (for pretzel dogs, increase to ½ cup)

coarse, kosher or pretzel salt, optional

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

8 or 16 hot dogs (if making pretzel dogs), preferably uncured, organic

1.      To make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

To make dough with a bread machine: Place all of the dough ingredients into the pan of your bread machine, program the machine for dough or manual, and press start. Allow the dough to proceed through its kneading cycle (no need to let it rise), then cancel the machine, flour the dough, and let it rest in a covered bowl or plastic bag (close the bag loosely, leaving room for the dough to expand) for 30 minutes.

To make dough with a food processor: Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in the work bowl of a food processor equipped with the steel blade. Process for 5 seconds. Add the water, and process for 7 to 10 seconds, until the dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl. Process a further 45 seconds. Place a handful of flour in a bowl, scoop the slack dough into the bowl, and shape the dough into a ball, coating it with the flour. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2.      While dough is resting, combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).

3.      Preheat oven to 475° F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying with vegetable oil spray, or lining with parchment paper.

4.      Transfer dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into 8 equal pieces (about 70g or 2 1/2 oz. each).

5.      Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

6.      Pour the baking soda/water into a 9" square pan.

7.      Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 30" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel shape. *For pretzel dogs, cut each dough rope in half, so it’s only about 10” long. Roll the dough tightly around each hot dog in a spiral (pinch the edges to seal and leave the ends open). About ½-inch of hot dog should peek out each end of the dough.

8.      Working with 4 pretzels at a time, place them in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. This will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.

9.      Transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt, if desired (I recommend skipping the salt for pretzel dogs). Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

10.  Bake pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

11.  Remove pretzels from the oven, and brush thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up (it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste). Eat pretzels warm or reheat in an oven or microwave.

adapted from kingarthurflour.com

flour, salt, sugar and yeast

water added

dough resting in a bowl

dough separated into 8 pieces (one pieced rolled)

dough formed into a pretzel shape

dough wrapped around hot dogs

pretzel soaking in a baking soda/water bath

hot dogs soaking in a baking soda/water bath

soaked hot dogs

brushing baked pretzel with butter

brushing baked hot dogs with butter

Next time I would skip salting the hot dogs (the
dogs are salty enough and it's kind of overkill).

pretzel dogs

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Corn Dogs

I can't, in good conscience, recommend you make corn dogs at home. Not after watching HBO's The Weight of the Nation this weekend. That show has me so terrified of my belly fat that I went for an hour long bike ride yesterday. I know that doesn't sound like much to you movers and shakers, but I'm counting on my fellow slugs out there to be impressed. So why did I make them? Because I hadn't watched the show yet. And because I could. And I'm not going to lie, it was fun. And they were good. Crunchy on the outside and slightly fluffy on the inside. But that wasn't me recommending them.

CORN DOGS

Yield: 16

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 quart corn oil or vegetable oil for frying

2 (16 ounce) packages beef frankfurters

16 wooden skewers

1.      In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk. Pour batter into a tall drinking glass and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2.      Heat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat to 365º F.

3.      Dry the frankfurters with a clean dish towel or paper towels. Insert a wooden skewer into each frankfurter. Dip in the batter until well coated (if the batter is too thick, thin with a little milk).

4.      Fry 2 or 3 corn dogs at a time until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

barely adapted from allrecipes.com (submitted by SUZZANNA)

all the dry ingredients

adding milk & egg

batter mixed

I put the batter in a tall glass so it would
be easier to dip the long hot dogs in.

For once I had some foresight and put a bowl under the glass.
I had a feeling it might expand with baking powder in the batter.
That five minutes I saved not cleaning my refrigerator meant
I got to watch Game of Thrones five minutes sooner.

hot dogs dried off and sticks inserted
Don't skip drying off the hot dogs (or the batter won't stick).

I used organic beef hot dogs with no nitrates. If you're going
to fry stuff at home, at least make good quality junk food.

dipping a dog

dipped

frying

flipped

So my brilliant idea of using a flat skillet instead of a saucepan
didn't work out quite as planned. My first few corn dogs were
very flat and wide. Don't ask me why I didn't see that coming.
After that, I made them one at a time and used tongs to
rotate them, so they would come out more rounded.

Here is a wide, flat one.

It looks a little funny, but it's just as tasty.

Here are some of the more rounded ones.

You can see in the background that
I reheated some in the toaster oven.
But they're best freshly fried.

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