Octoberfest is upon us but as it is not a normal year most of us will be celebrating at home. Although the celebration was officially canceled we still felt the urge to enjoy some pretzels in beer to forget the current situation and who doesn't love pretzels and beer?? We made a spicy-beer cheese sauce to dunk the pretzels and the results were impersonate. Hope you enjoy. Prost !
INGREDIENTS
Pretzel
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm beer, we used double IPA (250 ml)
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 packet dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
85 gr olive oil (or melted butter) ++ 1 tablespoon of olive oil to rise
5 - 6 cups of flour
To boil and cook the pretzels:
1 1/2 liter of water
4 1/2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 egg yolk
salt
Chipotle-beer cheese sauce
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoon of flour
80 g of cream cheese
1/2 cup of beer
1 tablespoon of chipotle sauce
1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese
milk if needed
PREPARATION
In a bowl of standard mixer add the warm water, brown sugar and yeast mix with a whisk and let rest for 8 minutes.
Once the yeast mixture is really bubbly, using the bread hook, turn on low and add beer, melted butter and salt. Once combined start adding the flour one cup at a time until 5 cups and mix on low until combined then increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, around 5 minutes. Check the texture of the dough, if it appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough should not be sticky. Increase the speed again to medium and kneed for another 5 minutes,
Remove the dough from the bowl and place in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, more or less 1 hour.
In a large pot add cold water and baking soda and bring to a boil.
Preheat the oven to 205 c .
Turn out the dough onto a flat surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.
To shape into pretzels, roll each piece into a long rope then make a U-shape with the rope. Holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and then bring them down to the bottom of the U and press to form the shape of a pretzel. Then place onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and continue until all 12 are done. You will need at least 2 baking pans.
Boil the pretzels in the water solution, 1-2 at a time for 25-30 seconds, splashing water over the the top. Remove with a large flat slotted spatula tapping agains the pan to remove excess water.
Place pretzels on the each baking sheets and brush the tops with the egg wash and season with sea salt.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until pretzels are deep golden brown.
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a medium skillet, then add the flour and stir making like a roux, then add the cream cheese and continue cook over medium heat stirring frequently until the cheese has melted, then slowly add the beer and continue to cook until the sauce is smooth. Then add the cheddar cheese little by little and finally the chipotle sauce, whisk the sauce until smooth adding milk if needed to thin out sauce. Keep the sauce warm to serve with pretzels.