Patriots Buffet Table – Patriots at Eagles

By Chef

Is it not enough that the Pats had to play one of the horrible football franchises from this state? They had to play both in one year?

Sure they may have had some success but at what cost? A hearty tsk tsk and what about the children to both of them.

Oh well, not everything from Pennsylvania is bad, just their evil football teams and Arlen Spector. The food and beer is good.

What to eat

We already made Philly Cheese Steak in the past  (check it out, it’s good!) so let’s make some soft pretzels.

Pennsylvania produces 80% of the country’s pretzels. See! I told you not to judge PA by it’s football teams.

We’re going to make our own. Why? Because it’s easy but seems hard. Also you can make stuffed pretzels, and nothing is better than a stuffed pretzel. Unless it’s beating a team from Pennsylvania and then eating their pretzels.

Soft Pretzels

1.5 cups warm water, should feel slightly warm to the touch 105-110 degrees
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp table salt
1 pack active dry yeast
22 oz all-purpose flour, about 4.5 cups
2 oz butter
Vegetable oil
1 cup baking soda
Pretzel salt, this can be hard to find and kosher can sub

This is baking, so it is important to be precise in your measurements, especially the flour.

You can do this by hand, but it’s much easier with a stand mixer and dough attachment. A hand mixer will not do the job. If you don’t have a stand mixer you’ll have to knead the dough.

Combine the water, sugar, yeast and table salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it sit until the mixture begins to foam, 5-10 minutes. Melt the butter and add it and the flour mix on low speed until well combined.

Change to medium speed and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover the dough with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for an hour, the dough will double in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Fill a pot with a gallon of water, add the baking soda and bring to a boil.

Put the dough on a slightly oiled surface. Split into 8 pieces. Like a kid working with playdoh, roll out each piece of dough into a 2 foot rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the sheet pan.

One at a time place the pretzels into the boiling water for 45 seconds. A large spatula is useful for holding them under the water and removing.

As you remove each, return to the sheet pan and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Again if you can’t get pretzel salt then kosher salt works

Bake to a dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I know you are all thinking… Excuse me, but you mentioned stuffed pretzels?

Yup, the only change happens at that “Split into 8 pieces” step. Cut each piece in two. So you have 16 foot long ropes.

Take each piece and roll out with a rolling pin. You’ll get them to about 1 feet by 6 inches wide. Spread a topping in the middle, leaving half an inch around all 4 sides.

Roll up the dough into a cigar shape and pinch down the ends and side. Crimp well as you’ll still be boiling them for 30 seconds.

Cook for about 4 minutes longer than above.

What sorts of toppings?
Shredded cheddar
Chocolate
Shredded mozzarella, pizza sauce, pepperoni
Honey mustard
Cinnamon Sugar
Maple Syrup
Honey
Peanut Butter

Anything you want really that won’t soak through. Make 16 different ones and eat them all yourself as the others cry.

The pretzels will last a few days, whether they have to be refrigerated or not depends on what you stuff them with.