12.17.2015

hotdog in a pretzel / bagel

Dog walks are when I do what I enjoy most,  think.  I think about how to get rich, how to replace my 9-to-5 with a more satisfying 9-to-5 and what things need to be baked.

I make pretzels once in a while.  They're fun and always come out tasty, big crowd pleaser.  I use a stiff, pretty dry dough:

water/milk (1/1) 200 g
butter 14 g
sugar 10 g
salt 5 g
unbleached white 300 g
instant active yeast 3-4 g

mix, knead and toss in fridge for about a day.  Then shape, proof, toss in 5% w/v lye solution for a minute, remove, place on Silpat, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400F convection on the Silpat until they are a rich mahogany color - like fine leather (that's a Ron Burgundy reference, he's my idol).

Then I started reading more on bagels. My last run wasn't very satisfying.  I use a similar dough for bagels, but after the shape and proof, I toss them in a sweetened (malt or brown sugar) pool  of boiling water and bake.  But I don't get the shine and tug to the exterior.  I read somewhere that bagels were originally subjected to a lye dip.  Are bagels just a chubby pretzel?  Until I sort this complicated mess out, I decided to take a side step and make a snack while I do research.  I had the desire to jam a hotdog into a pretzel (this is a reference to The Todd from Scrubs, another idol of mine "give the Todd some love!" /raises hand for high5).

Some action shots below, not much of a procedural post, just a few notes.

 100 g of that dough rolled to 12" by 1 3/4"

Chopped (Ballpark) dog tucked in to the dough.

 Formed into a loop and dusted liberally with flour, allowed to ferment in fridge for a day.  Side note: looking at this image sometimes produces a negative image where the parchement paper looks like a bundt pan holding the bagel dough - it's crazy!

Removed from fridge, allowed to warm for an hour to do the final proof, dipped them (with care) into a 5% w/v solution of food grade lye, scooped them out with a stainless skimmer, placed the dipped dough on a silpat, sprinkled with coarse salt and baked at 400F (convection) until brown.

Taste test (photobombed).

A lot to think about on this.  Need to read about bagels vs pretzels.  Probably heading toward something similar to a pizza roll next, layered pepperoni, sauce and cheese in a pillowy soft dough but still using the lye treatment on the exterior, I like the effect a lot.  Thanks for all the online discussion!  And thanks to @jarsloth for being brave enough to taste it.  I'm hoping he's still alive.

4 comments:

Chilebrown said...

What a great idea of a meat filled pretzel. I have had good results of just using plain water with bagels. I would skip the lye part.

Just a quick question that only a curmudgeon like myself would ask. In elementary school (In the 60's) we were preached upon and forced to learn the metric system. We were told that this system would take over the world as a standardized measurement. Well it has not. You use metrics in your recipe but use a standard ruler for measurement. My question is what kind of mustard do you like?

Dave said...

Hey man! Haven't visted your site in too long. I love the lye dip, gives a nice texture to the exterior. I'm working on pepperoni pizza bites via the same method, snacks I can smuggle in to the movie theater.

Re: metrics for measurement. Every scale has it's value. Grams work best for me for weighing, milliliters for volume and inches for length. I realize it's pretty reckless, I live on the edge.

Mustard... Amora brand! Unbelievable.

Julian Regina said...

Definitely going to try this with sausage and a pretzel. How delicious!!
Also make sure to try spicy mustard, that's the best we hotdogs and sausage!!

Mmmm I'm hungry now! Great post!!

Julian

Anonymous said...

Genius, Every brewery in Columbus should feature these.