Pretzel Dogs

As I described to the boy working at my local grocery store's checkout line, this week is "epic dinner week" in our household. You are seeing the results of Day 1.

I tried taking a shortcut on the pretzel dough, which was a total disaster. My bread machine came with a recipe for pretzel dough, but it turned out extremely dry and looked like a science experiment gone horribly wrong.

I went back to the drawing board and used a more traditional dough recipe as suggested in the blog What Megan's Making. Thanks to my stand mixer, it was a lot less work than I anticipated and the dough came out perfectly.

I recommend making these the day you are planning on eating them, although the dough could be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge in a Ziploc bag.


Ingredients (this can easily be made vegetarian)

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour (all-purpose flour would work if you don't have bread flour)
• package of 10 all-beef franks (regular sized, not the longer bun-length style) (for vegetarian alternative, use vegetarian hot dogs!)

• vegetable oil spray (not needed if you have a Silpat baking mat)
• water
• 2/3 cup baking soda OR 2 Tbsp malt diastatic powder
• 1 egg white, whisked until bubbly/foamy
• more kosher salt, for topping

Directions (if using stand mixer)

1. Set up your stand mixer with the dough hook.
2. In the bowl for your stand mixer, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for 3-5 minutes until mixture begins to foam.
3. Add salt, melted butter, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix on medium speed, adding the 4th cup of flour slowly and letting the flour incorporate into the mixture. If needed, add the final 1/2 cup of flour. You are looking for the dough to be a little sticky but not wet and gooey. Another indication that you have a good ratio of flour to moisture is that the dough has collected around the dough hook in a cohesive ball. 
4. Place dough in a new, clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour.

Once dough has risen...

1. Place a large stockpot of water, about 2/3 full, on the stove. Add baking soda (or, if using, malt diastatic powder) to water and bring to a boil.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3. Prepare cookie sheet by either spraying with vegetable oil OR placing a Silpat baking mat on the cookie sheet.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out pretzel dough until it is a large rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 10 thin strips. (If you have extra dough, you can use them to make regular pretzels)
5. Wrap each strip around a hot dog, pinching at both beginning and end to seal them. I like them with the ends showing, but you can completely encase the hot dog with dough if you desire.
6. Once water is boiling, turn down to medium heat. Drop 5 of the pretzel dogs in and let them cook for about 30 seconds - they should be floating.
7. Remove pretzel dogs with slotted spoon and place on baking sheet. Repeat with the final 5 pretzel dogs.
8. Brush each one with egg white and sprinkle salt on top.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes (checking frequently starting at the 12 minute mark) until golden brown. Remove and let cool about 10 minutes.
10. Enjoy with mustard, cheese sauce, or any other desired toppings.

Dill and Sour Cream Rolls

Being Italian, I think that I have a natural inclination toward carbohydrates. Ask my husband, whose family's house we were at for the holiday season. By mid-week I was desperate for pasta, chips, even dry toast. So for an addition to the New Year's Day dinner, I made dill and sour cream rolls. Making bread in general can be a pain if your house is too cold or things aren't the right temperature - in this recipe you'll notice several ingredients are marked a specific temperature (lukewarm, cooled, at room temperature...) - these notes are important, as temperature can affect the outcome of the rolls, how long they will take to rise, and how they will taste when done. I found the recipe for these delicious rolls over at Coconut & Lime - I made a few changes to the ingredients, which are reflected in my version of the recipe below.
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 package active dry yeast (which measures in at 1/4 oz)
• 3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature (I bought the smallest container of sour cream available and let it sit out while preparing other things)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 Tbsp dillweed (dried dill)
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 3 1/4 cups flour (I used unbleached bread flour)
• 2 eggs (1 for dough, 1 for brushing)
• butter for greasing the pan
  

Directions

1. Place water in the largest mixing bowl you have. Sprinkle the yeast in, mix, and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add sour cream, melted butter, dillweed, sugar, and salt. Mix well.
3. Add flour, about 1 cup at a time, mixing well as you go. (C&L recommends adding a splash of milk if the dough is too dry.) As you need to, transfer dough to table and continue kneading until all flour is incorporated and dough is barely sticky.
   
4. Grease the bowl with butter and return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and put bowl in a warm, dry spot to rise until dough doubles in size. (My dough took about 1.5 hours)
5. Grease a 13x9 pan with butter.
   
6. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place each roll in the pan, cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and allow rolls to double in size. (This took my dough another hour or so)
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
8. Beat the other egg and brush it over each roll.
9. Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes, turning the pan 180 degrees in the oven after about 10 minutes.

Comments
Warm out of the oven, these rolls were delicious. However, it wasn't until we were eating the precious leftovers later as a snack that we were able to taste the flavors, specifically the dill. The true test of a good roll, according to my brothers, is if you are able to enjoy the roll free of any dressings, including butter or jam. These passed the test.

Basic Pizza Dough

I consider pizza dough a staple - it can be used for pizza crust, yes, but also calzones, stromboli, and even non-Italian foods. This entry is for my basic pizza dough, which I make using a KitchenAid mixer. I've included a separate set of instructions for making this dough by hand.

You can make this the night before a meal that might require it, and put the entire bowl, saran wrap and all, in the fridge. It will rise slowly and be ready for you come dinner time the next day.

This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's basic pizza dough recipe in How to Cook Everything.

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour (unbleached bread flour if you've got it)
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper
• garlic powder and/or onion powder, if desired
  
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions by Hand

1. Combine half the flour, the yeast, salt, pepper, and any other flavorings you might like (such as a few shakes of garlic powder and/or onion powder).
2. Add water and olive oil. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Add remaining flour a bit at a time. Begin kneading by hand on floured surface when dough gets too tough to work with spoon.
4. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth.
5. Drizzle a little olive oil in the bowl and roll the dough in the oil to coat. Place dough in bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap.
   
6. Let dough rise in warm, draft-free area until dough doubles in size, about 1-2 hours.
   

Directions Using Stand Mixer

1. Attach the bread hook to your stand mixer.
2. To mixing bowl, add half the flour (about 1 1/2 cups), the instant yeast, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you might like (such as a few shakes of garlic powder and/or onion powder). Stir to mix ingredients.
3. Add water and olive oil and mix at Speed 2 for 30-60 seconds.
   
4. Add half of the rest of the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour while on Speed 2. Once incorporated, add in the remaining flour. Let mix at Speed 2 for another 2 minutes or so. Add a little more flour if the mixture is still very sticky.
5. Once dough sticks to bread hook in one large mass (2 minutes or more total), stop mixing.
6. Remove dough from bowl, drizzle a little olive oil down the side and roll the dough in oil to coat.
   
7. Leave dough in bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap.
8. Let dough rise in draft-free area until it doubles in size, about 1-2 hours.

Comments
You can use all-purpose flour if you don't have bread flour; however, the bread flour makes it a little chewy, rather than the flaky and somewhat dry consistency that you might get from all-purpose flour. Bread flour also browns nicely while cooking, making it attractive as well as tasty. If you intend to make your own dough, I certainly recommend making the investment in buying a nice bread flour, such as King Arthur.