Oktoberfest Pretzel Wrapped Beer Dog

Though Oktoberfest had ended, there is no reason to not enjoy the festivities longer. Oktoberfest typically runs from the end of September until the first week of October. Oktoberfest is a festival held in Germany and has been held since 1810, and is a festival modeled after traditional fairgrounds. There are games played, beer is sampled, and there is delicious food. To honor Oktoberfest, and October, we have made for you a pretzel wrapped beer dog! You get three fabulous things at once; sausage, pretzel, and beer!

*Takes about an hour and 30 minutes. Also using a grill pan is optional.  

Ingredients: makes 6

Pretzel:
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 ¼ cups warm water  
 5 cups all-purpose flour
 ½ cup white sugar
 1 ½ teaspoons salt
 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup baking soda
 4 cups hot water
 ¼ cup kosher salt, for topping

Sausage:

1 Tablespoon oil
6 Bratwursts
1 yellow onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 cups beer (whatever you like)

 

 

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Leave alone until creamy, about 10 minutes.

 

In a large bowl, mix together flour, ½  cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add oil and yeast mixture. Using an electric mixer if you have one, mix into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

 

While the dough is setting you will now make the beer dogs. Heat oil in a large sauce pan; dice the yellow onion and place in the pan, cook onion until softened. Add beer and bring to a boil. Once boiling add brats and allow the beer to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

 

If you want to have grill marks on the brats for color, heat a grill pan, and grill brats until you see grill marks (about 4 minutes). Set aside to cool.

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Boil hot water and baking soda.

 

When dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Roll pretzel around brats, if you need help keeping it in place you can use toothpicks on each end. Once all the brats are covered in pretzel dough, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

 

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

 

Enjoy your delicious pretzel wrapped beer dog!

 

Happy October!