I generally don’t care for hot dogs.  I won’t go into detail, but I pretty much find them to be wrong on many, many levels.  That being said, there are moments in life when a hot dog sounds like a fantastic idea.

For instance – sporting events.  Hot dogs always taste good at baseball games, soccer games, basketball games, football games…well – I suppose they are always better when they come from a concession stand.

My Dad makes an amazing grilled hot dog.  He cooks it until it’s sizzling and nearly black (yay carcinogens!) and sopped with sweet, sticky KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.

Campfire hot dogs?  Always okay in my book.

Convenience store hot dogs, microwaved or boiled hot dogs?  No thank you.  Hot dogs without a bun? Nope.  Corn dogs?  Ew.  And have you ever had a red hot dog?  Like, a really red Nebraska hot dog?

I have.  And I lived to tell about it.

I’ve had pretzel dogs on my list of things to make for quite a while now.  I thought my family would love them, and I was right.  These were a big hit around here.  We are already fans of homemade soft pretzels, so it was no big surprise when these got rave reviews from my husband and girls.

Of course, my two year old called them princess dogs all afternoon.  It didn’t stop her from eating them, though.  Whatever works.

I found these to be really easy to make.  The pretzel dough comes together quickly and takes less than an hour to rise.  Wrapping them takes about 20 minutes and boiling them takes another 10 minutes.  For an impressive party food, you really can’t beat this one.  It’s fun, casual and super simple.

These are halved hot dogs, but you could certainly make them full size or even bite size.  Put your favorite dipping sauces out and let people go town.  They’re sure to be a nice change to the traditional picnic, barbecue or party, any time of the year.

Pretzel Dogs

 

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Prep time

60 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Recipe Inspiration and Source: Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Serves: 16 hot dogs

Ingredients

For dough:

• 22 ounces all-purpose flour (weigh if possible, if not use 4 and ½ cups)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 and ¾ teaspoons instant yeast (1 packet)
• 1 and ½ cups warm water, about 110 degrees F
• 4 ounces melted unsalted butter
• 8 hot dogs, cut in half

For boil:

• 10 cups water
• ⅔ cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• Kosher salt

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, water, butter and yeast.
2. Combine with the dough hook on low speed for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth, pulls away from the sides of the bowl and tacky-elastic.
3. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray.
4. Transfer dough to sprayed bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
5. Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free area for 50-60 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
6. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and prepare two large baking sheets with a silpat (silicon) mat or parchment paper.
7. Meanwhile, bring 10 cups of water and baking soda to a boil in a large stock pot.
8. Add the baking soda carefully and slowly, as it could react and boil over.
9. Turn the dough out on to your work surface and divide it into 16 equal pieces.
10. Roll each piece into a long rope (approximately 10-12 inches long) and wrap the rope around the hot dog.
11. Pinch the ends of each rope very well to prevent them from coming apart during the boiling process.
12. Set aside and continue until all of the hot dogs are wrapped.
13. Place the wrapped hot dogs into the boiling water using a slotted spoon or a spider, a few at a time.
14. Allow to boil for 30 seconds, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to rest.
15. Once all of the dogs are boiled, move them to the baking sheets and brush each one with the egg wash.
16. Sprinkle with the pretzel salt, and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
17. When you remove them from the oven, immediately brush them with melted butter and sprinkle more pretzel salt, if desired.
18. Enjoy!

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