The hot pretzel dog experiment!

After watching Alton Brown one day I decided to try and make a batch of his soft pretzels.  They looked fabulous and besides it was football season and what could be better than football, a hot pretzel and of course an ice cold beer.

I followed the recipe and they came out just as advertised.  They had the perfect color, a nice chew on the outside as well as a little crunch from the salt but inside sooooo soft and smooth with a nice hint of butter.  I new right away that this recipe was one I would be using again.  So when my wife and I decided to have the gang over for a football party it was a natural choice to make a batch of soft pretzels.  Thinking about other things to make for the party I figured some hot dogs, pizza, wings, the usual game food would be in order.  Then an epiphany, why not make pretzel buns for the dogs, better yet make pretzels around the hot dogs!

The adventure began with a batch of Altons' pretzel dough which you can get right here.  When the dough was ready to shape I decided to liberally flour it and run it through a hand cranked pasta machine working it down to the thickness of a thin crust pizza.  With a flat long strip I took hot dogs and cut dough strips just a bit longer than the hot dog.  I placed the hot dog on the dough and wrapped it up, just gently pressing the seams together and placed them seam side down on a cookie sheet.  With all of the dogs assembled I cover them with plastic wrap and placed them in a warm spot to rise again.  About and hour later they had risen nicely so I just continued to follow the remainder of the recipe by boiling and baking the dogs.

I watched them closely and when they came out of the oven they looked perfect.  A beautiful deep brown crust with white speckles of course sea salt and a smooth inside with the surprise hot dog.

I had no choice at this point but to take a bite, and they tasted as good as they looked and a nice change of pace from the grocery store tasteless buns!  My mind immediately began to race, what about an Italian sausage or better yet a bratwurst.  Maybe this was my big idea in life and this was destined to have a stick rammed in it and sold at every state and county fair in the country!  But that may be for another day.  For now I'm happy enjoying them at home and hope others try them in their homes!

By the way they heat up nicely in the microwave the next day wrapped in a paper towel.  And smaller versions like little smokies work really well also.  If I try any other variations I will let you know.

Until then, remember a cocktail in your hand while cooking, helps make mistakes alright!