Merging salty pretzel dough with cheese & pepperoni for your newest favorite snack!
Eons ago, I gave you an 8-day series on how to make your own Sourdough Starter from scratch, which, if given a little TLC periodically, could last generations.
I took the jar of mother out of the fridge. Now, if you’ve never made sourdough starter (um.. what’cha waiting for anyway? Dude, it’s simple and AMAZING!), after a while, it could have greenish liquid on top; hooch if you will. This is normal! So, I unscrewed the cap, and just as I went to stick my wooden spoon in it to mix it up, Mr. Fantabulous walked in from outside and stopped dead in his tracks.
The look of confusion was precious. He didn’t speak but I knew what he was thinking. Something like, “Woman, have you lost your damn mind? It’s green so it’s no good. Pitch it.” I just said, “Honey, I have to mix in the hooch as that’s where the flavor is, and then I’m making stuffed pretzels out of this.“
To mix up the dough is pretty simple and even letting it rise is pretty fast in comparison to other breads. As the dough was proofing I got that “Oh Crap!” thought as I wasn’t sure if I had pretzel salt. I dug high and low in my cabinets and pantry… nuffin’! Thankfully I found a bag of it in the freezer!
Now, I do know finding Pretzel Salt in a regular grocery store is really tough—at least it is where I live. You have to love country living. If you can’t find it in your store, then get it online. I actually like this salt a lot!
Finally the dough was ready to be formed into pretzels, the oven was heating up and I had my cheese, pepperoni and stuff on deck to kick this pretzel-palooza off with a bang.
I initially wanted to go with simple pretzel sticks, as they were easy to do and, well, simple, like I said. But for these boys, I wanted to do something more “manly,” something their man paws could grab on to without fear of it ripping or breaking apart. Yeah, these men needed MAN-SIZED pretzels. Um… pretzel. Um… OH! Pretzelthingamabobs.
Pretzel thingamabobs?
After I cut the dough into pieces, I got the bright idea of making these into savory rolls—kind of like a cinnamon roll but only in a pretzel formation. Instead of slathering them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter and topping them with creamy cream cheese frosting, I opted to go with tons of mozzarella cheese, spicy pepperoni, and pretzel salt.
So I patted out each piece of dough into a rectangle, place some cheese (okay lots of cheese) and pepperoni and then rolled it up like a jelly roll. I then pressed down on it to flatten it somewhat and then rolled it up like an individual pinwheel/cinnamon roll. Pretty cool, huh? Like normal pretzels, I figured they would puff up while they bake.
As you can see, these puffed up and were Man-Paw sized. These things were big, manly and just oozing with all kinds of awesomeness… like Mr. Fantabulous *wink* LOL
Sourdough Stuffed Pepperoni Cheesy Pretzels Recipe
Merging salty pretzel dough with cheese & pepperoni for your newest favorite snack!
- Prep Time: 1 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8 rolls
- Category: pretzels, pizza, pepperoni lovers, pepperoni bread, cheesy bread, sourdough bread
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: pretzels, pizza, pepperoni lovers, pepperoni bread, cheesy bread, sourdough bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup dry milk powder (Baker’s Special Dry Milk is what I use) or nonfat dry milk
- 2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder or one tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- 1 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 3/4 pound sandwich pepperoni slices (can use smaller sizes)
- 3–4 cups shredded mozzarella (or about 1 pound sliced mozzarella)
- Pretzel Salt
- 1 large egg mixed with one tablespoon of water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add in the following order the water, sourdough starter, bread flour, milk powder, malt powder, butter, and salt.
- Start the mixer on low just to combine ~ for 2-3 minutes. Slowly turn the mixer up to medium and mix until well combined and the dough is slightly sticky, about 8 minutes. It’ll be tacky to the touch and barely stick to your finger when touched. If it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon or two of water. Lightly spray a larger bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes. It will rise minimally.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Depending on the size of your tray/rolls, you may need two. Lightly spray your work surface with cooking spray, NOT FLOUR.
- Empty the dough on it and gently fold it over in half, patting it to deflate. Turn the dough 90 degrees, fold it in half, and then fold again. Divide the dough into 8 evenly sized pieces. Pat each piece into a 7-8” long rectangle by 4-5” wide. Evenly divide the cheese amongst the 8 rectangles spreading to 1/2” from the ends with the widest side closest to you.
- Evenly diving up the pepperoni, place that along the top of the cheese, spreading to 1/2” from the ends. Starting at the side closest to you (long side) roll up the dough like a jelly roll ensuring the cheese and pepperoni stay put while you roll. When you reach the end, gently pinch the edges together, sealing them all in. Starting at one end, roll the dough into itself (like a snake coiled up). Place the coil on the pan. Repeat for the remaining rolls. *Note: When placing the rolls on the pan, you need to leave about 2” space between each one as they will rise and spread. You don’t want them to touch when they bake.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and tablespoon of water until frothy. With a pastry brush, brush the egg mixture on the pretzel. Sprinkle with pretzel salt. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until they’re a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
- It is best when eaten on the same day. If not, allow it to cool completely and place it in a paper bag in the fridge.
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