As I have mentioned often throughout this blog, I love pastries, whether sweet or savory, as I suppose most of the people do. One of my favourites are undoubtly the soft pretzels. Even though they are a bit time consuming to make since the dough needs proofing, I can assure you that once you try it, you won’t leave it.
I’ve used Cheddar cheese in this recipe and I haven’t found any substitute of it yet, but in absence of Cheddar (it’s a bit expensive in Albania) you can use Gouda. Also, the three types of flours I’ve used in this recipe can be easily found in almost all supermarkets.
[lt_recipe name=”Soft pretzel bites with cheddar cheese” servings=”4 persons” prep_time=”1H15M” cook_time=”25M” total_time=”1H40M” difficulty=”Medium” print=”yes” image=”https://bakemydayhappy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/soft-pretzel3.jpg” ingredients=”Pretzel dough;• 230gr manitoba flour;• 120g fine semolina flour;• 150g all purpose flour;• 2 tbsp. Olive oil;• 2 tsp. dry yeast;• 2 tbsp. sugar;• 300 ml warm water;• 1 egg for egg wash;For the water bath:;• ¼ cup baking soda;• 4 cups water;Cheese sauce:;• 1 cup shredded Cheddar;• 1 tbsp. flour;• 2 tbsp. Butter;• 1 cup milk;• Salt if needed” ]Start by making the Dough. Put all the dough ingredients in a large bowl and mix until the dough comes together. Knead for about 7 minutes until smooth and elastic (set the timer). Alternatively if you have a bread machine set the dough cycle and let it do the magic;Wrap the dough with cling film and let it rise until doubled in size, approx. 1 hour . While the dough rests take your time to clean the work surface ; Preheat the oven to 180C; After the dough has risen, pour the water in a large pot and bring it to a boil;Divide the dough in four large pieces and shape each of them into a long rope until reaching approx. 4 cm thick. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut the rope into small pillow-shaped pretzel bites; When the water has reached boiling point, add the baking soda and boil the pretzels by batches for about 5 minutes. I put 15 pretzel bites at once. Remove carefully using a clotted spoon and arrange them in a baking tray covered with baking paper; Repeat step 6 until all the pretzel bites are done; Divide the bites in two baking trays leaving some space between the pretzel bites, brush each of them with the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown; While the bites are baking start preparing the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour. Stir for about 2 minutes. Add the milk and let it simmer until thickened. Turn off the heat and pour in the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Attention! The heat should be turned off before throwing in the cheese otherwise it will curd and the sauce won’t be creamy. Don’t worry, the sauce’s heat will melt the cheese beautifully; After the pretzels are done, transfer them to a serving plate with the hot cheese sauce on the side.[/lt_recipe]
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