Pretzel Dogs

I've always been a sucker for the hot dogs wrapped in pretzels at the little booth at the mall. However, until I saw this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen, I never thought of making something similar in my own home. This recipe was for Bagel Dogs, but I modified it a bit to make it more like a pretzel dog. My daughter was home sick today with a horrible chest cold, so I decided this morning that I was going to make these as a special "feel better" lunch for her.

I just finished the dogs about a half hour ago, and they were a hit with my little food critic! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

Pretzel Dogs

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water (110° F)
• 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 3 tsp salt
• 5 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• 8 quality all-beef hot dogs
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg yolk plus 1 tablespoon water, lightly beaten
• Coarse Salt for garnish

Directions:

Pour the water into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and sprinkle with the yeast. Let the mixture stand about five minutes or until foamy, then stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar and the salt.

Using the paddle attachment, add flour one cup at a time, beating until well-blended and smooth, until you have a stiff dough. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook and knead thoroughly until smooth and elastic in texture (about 5-7 minutes). Form the dough into a ball and place it into a lightly greased bowl. Turn the dough over to grease the top. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and knead as needed to rid the dough of any air bubbles. Place dough on a lightly floured cutting board and roll out into a 8 x 10 rectangle or until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Add flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 8 long strips.

Dry the hot dogs. Starting at one end of each hot dog, wrap a strip of dough around the hot dog, overlapping as you go until you reach the other end of the hot dog. Place seam down on a parchment covered baking sheet as you finish them. Let dogs rest on the sheet for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the over to 400°. Fill a stock pot with water and add the baking soda. Bring to a gentle boil. Working two bagels at a time, carefully drop the bagel dogs into the boiling water, turning frequently with a slotted spoon or spatula, for about a minute. Lift out of the water and gently dry each bagel well on a kitchen towel and arrange about 2-inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with remaining bagel dogs. I put four dogs to a sheet and used two sheets.

Brush the bagels with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for about 35 minutes or until nicely browned and crusty, turning the pan about halfway through Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack.