Pretzel Pigs in a Blanket

Pretzel pigs in a blanket or pretzel hot dogs, whatever you call them, these mini sausage bites are delicious, great finger food for any kind of party.

Pretzel pigs in a blanket or pretzel hot dogs served with Bavarian grainy mustard. These sausage bites will be gone ina flash at your next party. Or try these Colombian Coca Cola Sausages or the Croatian Cevapcici.

We love pretzels or Brezel in Germany. Salty, fluffy in the middle, chewier on the sides, eaten as they are, on the go, or savored on a Sunday morning with a little butter smeared on top. Heaven!

I don’t bake pretzels often, not because it is difficult, it really isn’t, but because you can buy them at every bakery around here, they are always fresh and delicious and really not that expensive. They are large enough to satisfy you entirely, and if you have one, you will not think about lunch for several hours.

Pretzel dough recipe

The recipe is actually very easy, especially if you are using a kitchen machine to knead the dough. However, this particular dough is easy to make even without a machine.

• Mix together the flour, salt, and the active dry yeast.
• Heat the milk and the sugar very gently, about 36 degrees Celsius/ 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit, so body temperature.
• Pour the milk to the flour mixture and knead. You can knead the dough with the handheld mixer fitted with dough hooks or you can knead it for a couple of minutes in a kitchen machine fitted with dough hooks. If you knead it by hand, you should do it for about 4-5 minutes.
• Let rise for about 45 minutes, it should double in size.
• Knead again very shortly and use it as desired.

How else to use the dough?

• The dough is not only suitable to make the pretzel pigs in a blanket, but also for making regular pretzels or buns.
• If you want to make pretzels, form 5-6 of them (double the recipe for about 10-12) and place them into the boiling solution (water and bicarbonate of soda) for about 30 seconds.
• Remove with a slotted spoon, shake to drain the excess water, and place on baking sheets lined with baking paper.
• Let air dry shortly, brush the pretzels with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake for about 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
• If you want to make buns follow the same procedure after forming the buns.

Can you make pigs in a blanket with pizza dough?

• Yes. If you want to make this recipe a really quick one, use bought pizza dough.
• The pizza dough I get around here is already rolled, so all I have to do is to unroll and cut it.
• After that, proceed with the recipe.

The sausages

• I made half of the pigs with hot dog sausages and half of them with Bavarian weisswurst. You can also make the party bites with frankfurters or cocktail sausages.
• I had to cut the hot dogs in three pieces that would fit into the pretzel dough rectangles.
• When using weisswurst, start by removing its peel. Half the weisswurst horizontally and cut the halves in two pieces vertically as well. In the end, you will have 4 pieces out of one weisswurst.

 How to form?

• After the dough has doubled in size, knead it shortly on a floured surface. Roll it to a rectangle and cut it. Once vertically in half and then horizontally to obtain 12 smaller rectangles. Cut the edges of the dough all around to get some regular rectangles.
• Place one piece of sausage in the middle of each rectangle and roll the dough around it.
• Use the scraps to roll and cut a few rectangles more, I had 3 or 4 smaller extras. Wrap a sausage piece in these extra rectangles as well.

Alkali bath for pretzels

• To make proper pretzels you will have to “bathe” them in an alkali bath before baking. This is what gives them their shiny look, typical taste, and chewy crust.
• Bakeries use lye (caustic soda) for the bath. However, lye is a dangerous chemical product that should not be played with at home.
• For homemade pretzels, it is recommendable to use a baking soda bath, which isn’t nearly as caustic as lye.
• The results are pretty similar, the pretzels might not be that intensely colored or chewy, but they will be completely delicious as well.

How to serve?

• Serve the pigs in a pretzel blanket with sweet coarse mustard, the typical accompaniment for weisswurst or curry sauce/ curry ketchup.
• I prefer them when still warm, but they are fine at room temperature as well.
• However, do reheat them in the oven before serving, if possible.

More pretzel recipes?

Homemade Pretzel Chips or Crisps

Romanian Cheese and Caraway Pretzels – Covrigei

Baked Schnitzel in Pretzel Buns