Pretzel Pups

My friend Adam and I were talking one day about food (a common theme for us), and I mentioned that I had made soft pretzels recently.  I told him how delicious they were, and he said, "You know what would be good?  Pretzel Dogs!"  


I concur.  Pretzel dogs are delicious, so it follows that homemade pretzel dogs would be the bomb.  And so I present:  Pretzel Pups.


I used the soft pretzel recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.  If you haven't checked out this food blog, you should.  They have great recipes, with nice pictures and instructions.


I have adapted this recipe, adding my own secret ingredient (hot dogs).


Pretzel Pups:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar  (I was out of brown sugar so I used white sugar)
1 package active dry yeast
6 Tbsp butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Cooking oil
A big pot or water3/4 cup baking soda
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Coarse sea salt

1.  Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the bread hook attached.  Mix until combined and then let it sit for 5 minutes.
2.  Add flour and salt and mix on the lowest speed until it's all combined.  Then up the speed and let the bread hook knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

3.  Take the dough out, and knead it in your hands a few times and shape it into a ball.  Then put the dough in a big bowl that's been coated with cooking oil.  Cover with plastic wrap, and put in a nice warm place.  Let it sit for an hour or so until it doubles in size.

4.  An hour or so later, put a big pot of water on to boil, and heat the oven to 425.  Take the dough out and put it on a nice big surface where you can work with it.  
5.  Divide it into 10 pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope about 20 inches long.
6.  Coil each rope around a raw hot dog pinching at the ends to secure it.
7.  Put the baking soda in the boiling water.  Careful!  It will foam so you might need to cut the heat.
8.  Boil each pretzel wrapped hot dog for about 30 seconds.  Take it out with tongs and put it on a rack to let some of the water drain off. 

9.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and put the hot dogs on the sheet.  Brush each one with the egg/water mixture, and sprinkle on the sea salt.

10.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Now, if you aren't into hot dogs, you can "adapt" this recipe to suit.  Just eliminate the hot dogs.  And when you are shaping the dough, you can cut it into pretzel bites, or be really fancy and shape it like a real soft pretzel.  These are so easy to make, but I guarantee they will impress!