Pretzel Dogs

These little guys were awesome!!! I love soft pretzels! Throw in a hotdog and well...you have a meal!

These would make awesome appetizers for a football game or birthday party. But like I said, I served them for dinner one night with some grape tomatoes on the side and my preschooler was super excited. He chose to dip with mustard. I couldn't decide and dipped with ketchup and mustard. My hubby wanted to dip with some melted cheese (which we were out of) so he opted for some dijon mustard! Dip with whatever you like - they are sure to be a big hit!

Pretzel Dogs
Source: Smells Like Home

For the pretzel dough and dogs:
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 t. kosher salt
1 pkg. dry active yeast
4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
8 hot dogs, cut in half

For boiling:
10 c. water
2/3 c. baking soda

To finish the pretzel dogs:
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 T. water
Pretzel salt (or kosher salt), for topping

Combine the warm water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. If you use dry active yeast, let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast is foamy and begins to smell of yeast. If you use instant yeast, let the yeast mixture set for a couple minutes to dissolve the yeast then proceed to the next step – the mixture won’t be foamy.

Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and, on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4 to 5 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm area and let dough rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Place the dough on a greased surface, and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around a half hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough.

In a large pot, bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a roiling boil.

Boil the shaped pretzels and pretzel dogs, one at a time, in the baking soda water for 30-45 seconds each. Using a slotted spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any extra baking soda mixture to drip off.

Place the boiled pretzel dogs back on a parchment lined baking sheets. Brush with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with pretzel or kosher salt. Bake until golden brown, roughly 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving. Serve with a variety of mustards or ketchup.