Cheddar Filled Pretzel Bites

Alas we are in October, the month of my birth, the month of one of my favorite holidays, and an awesome month to celebrate the soft pretzel! According to the tales, pretzels were invented in Italy by monks in 600s from leftover breads. Pretzels have since been linked to Christianity, and featured in many Catholic holidays and traditions. The Germans really grabbed onto these traditions, and it is the Germans we have to thank for immigrating to America and introducing the US to pretzels!! There is some history with your food.

To honor the Oktober tradition of enjoying a good soft pretzel and some beer, we have made cheddar stuffed pretzels balls. This dish is really easy and is great with an Oktoberfest beer.

Ingredients: makes about 2 dozen

11 cup warm water + 1 Tablespoon
1 envelope active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened
Vegetable oil for bowl
Medium cheddar cheese
2/3 cup baking soda
One egg

 



Stir together 1 cup warm water and yeast in a large bowl and let stand until foam forms. If it doesn’t, start over.

In a smaller bowl, stir together flour, salt, and light brown sugar.

Add flour mixture and butter to yeast mixture, and stir together completely and then knead with your hands. Take dough out of bowl and wipe with oil, put dough back in, cover, and let stand in refrigerator for an hour.

Once an hour is up preheat oven to 450 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and rub a little oil on it.

Cube cheese into small inch pieces.

Cut dough into three pieces and one at a time roll out onto a flour dusted surface. Cut into 8 pieces. Place a cube of cheddar into the middle of the dough, and roll, making sure the dough seals around it. Set aside, and continue until you have made all of your pretzel bites.

Boil 10 cups of water and 2/3 cup baking soda. Place 4 pretzels at a time in the water to boil for 30
seconds, and then place on baking sheet. Once you have boiled all of them, mix together 1 egg yolk and one tablespoon of water, and brush all of the pretzels. Sprinkle with salt, and bake for 14 minutes.

Enjoy! These are so addicting.

 

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!