Pretzel Dogs

These were so good, I couldn't wait to blog them. Two posts in one week. It's almost like I'm a real blogger! Anyway, these were beyond good. I just wouldn't want someone to miss out on a opportunity for awesomeness. I know. I'm a true friend.

I printed out this recipe back in April. But she got the recipe from here. I don't know why I haven't made them before now. Probably because I thought they were going to be super difficult. But these were a piece of cake. Mostly because I didn't make the dough. Jason did. But even he said they were easy. And the dough goes together in an hour. Which for a yeast dough is really fast.

To make them into pretzel hot dogs is easy. When you roll the dough into long tubes make them 16 inches instead of 12. You'll need the extra length to go all the way around the dog. I had 12 hot dogs but we would have had enough dough for 14-16. Allow the rolls to rest for a few minutes and then take a piece of dough and start at one end and twist the dough all the way around the dog. Pinch the ends together and then set aside. When all the dogs are wrapped, boil 10 cups of water with 2/3 a cup of baking soda. This is the exact measurement you need. Don't cheat. I'll know. Next just boil the dogs for 1 minute. Transfer them to a wire rack to drip and then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with an egg wash and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake them at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You want them to be golden brown. Serve with a variety of mustard. But some of that nasty orange nacho cheese would be good too.

We used two kinds of hot dogs. Hebrew National and Earl Campbell Red Hot links. I wanted a little higher quality dog than Oscar Mayer. Jason and I agreed that the Hebrew was by far the superior dog. While the Campbells were tasty, it was too much meat to pretzel. We used good old French's, Gulden's Spicy Brown and Grey Poupon mustard. And we both agreed that the Grey Poupon really complimented the Hebrew. Whew. This is a long post. But this recipe is deserving of it.