Welcome Back Baseball Pretzel Bites

Today is an exciting day in the Little Kitchen! It is the first day ball fans get to watch their beloved New York Mets play a game...of course we are in the comfort of our own living room and the Mets are in sunny Port St. Lucie but thank you to modern technology, we get to watch!!

We all know what this means!!  Pretzel season has officially opened!  I have been waiting so patiently for this.  I do love pretzels! So much that I make pretzel rolls, pretzels, and now pretzel bites and stuffed pretzel sandwiches!!  Have I gone off the deep end??

Perhaps, but that is another post.

Not too long ago, Kate over at Diethood posted her recipe for her pretzel bites.  If you have never clicked your way to her blog, you really should.....I drooled while I read the pretzel bite post, saved it and today was the day to make them!  Pretzels go so well with baseball. They were made for each other

Once I had the dough made and it had its chance to rise, I started rolling out ropes of dough and cutting them into 1 inch (about 2 cm) pieces.  An idea came to me....we all know how much I like to make fold over type of sandwiches so I grabbed the corned beef, cheese, mustard, and sauerkraut from the fridge and made a couple of stuffed pretzel sammies!!

I saved a couple smallish balls of dough and rolled them out.

Cut up some corned beef into smaller pieces and cheese into cubes.

Layer these with mustard or sauerkraut.

If I had some Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing, the sammie on the left would have been a Reuben!

Seal up the dough by pinching it all around the dough.  Make sure the dough is completely sealed.

Simmer in the hot water/baking soda bath, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with salt, and bake until golden brown....that would be about 15 minutes.

Pretzel Bites

Printable recipe here

·         2 cups warm water

·         2 tbsp light brown sugar

·         1 pkg active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)

·         ½ cup butter, melted

·         5 cups all purpose flour

·         3 tsp salt

Hot water bath

·         6 cups water

·         ¼ cup baking soda

Egg wash

·         1 egg

·         1 tsp water

Combine the warm water, yeast, and brown sugar.  Set aside for about 5 minutes and let it get all foamy.

Add the melted butter, the flour, and the salt.

With the dough hook, mix everything.  The dough will come together.  If the dough is sticky, add a bit more flour.

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and set it in a warm spot to rise until double in size, about an hour.

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil.  Once it is boiling, reduce the heat slightly to a high simmer and slowly add ¼ cup of baking soda...it will bubble up so add it slowly!

Roll out ropes of dough and cut each rope into sections that are about 1 inch long.

Simmer in the hot baking soda water bath for about 1 minute.  Transfer to a baking sheet, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle with salt.

Bake at 425F for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

 Serve with mustard and cheese sauce for dipping!!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!