Posted in Recipes on 19.07.2018
Beer Pretzel Buns with Carrot Dogs
prep: 60 mins / cook: 1 hour 30 mins / inactive: 3 hours 0 mins / total: 5 hours 30 mins / quantity: 8 buns / dogs Print recipe?
If you’ve never made your own bread I strongly urge you to change that immediately ? You can start with any number of our bread recipes. Some are quick as you like no knead doughs. Some are the leave in a bowl while the yeast does its thing and you potter on with the rest of your day.
Herbed Beer Bread – a no knead/no prove dough also incorporating the lovely crisp flavours of Fitbeer paired with loads of fresh herbs
Oat Loaf – wholemeal flour and rolled oats give a wonderful chewy but light texture, the bread is just full of flavour. This recipe is also a step by step guide to the perfect loaf.
Rye Bread – stout gives this bread it’s malty dark colour and flavour and is another no knead dough
Spinach Oat Rolls – hidden veggies that even the fussy eaters won’t know are there!
But till I made these I’d never made pretzels before. I’d always been put off by the extra step of boiling, worrying that I’d muck it up and end up wasting ALL that time and all those ingredients. But the worrying was completely unnecessary. The light poaching is one of the easiest parts to the whole process. Not that any part is difficult. The kneading by hand IS hard work (unless you’ve muscles like Popeye ?) but not difficult.
I’ve used Fitbeer to make the dough – it’s alcohol free and low calorie as well as being utterly delicious with a crisp, clean flavour.
The whole recipe starts off with marinating the carrots. Ideally you want to do this at least a couple of hours before you plan to cook them or even overnight. There’s quite a few ingredients in the marinade so you want to make sure the flavours really get into your carrots! You want to roast the carrots till they’re soft but still with a little bite. Too soft and it’s too much mush in a soft bun, too hard it’s an odd texture against the soft pretzels. So they can take anything from 30-40 minutes dependent on how thick your carrots are!
And what you choose as your accompaniments is entirely up to you. But it’s hotdogs so coleslaw with this vegan mayonnaise is practically mandatory! As are roasted baby potatoes – just toss them in some oil, dried or fresh herbs and plenty of salt and pepper and roast right along with your carrots!
Those cute little paper towels in the cup are from Ora – Home and are VERY good at soaking up the extra oil from the potatoes. We were lucky enough to be sent some a while ago and I’ve used them for so many things! They’re great at keeping burger fillings actually in the buns as I have a habit of overfilling and trying to defy gravity! ?
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If you make this recipe or any of the recipes from The Cook & Him we’d LOVE to see! Just snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #thecookandhim and tagging @thecookandhim in the photo itself (as this guarantees we’ll see your picture!)
And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram , Facebook or Twitter for even more recipe inspiration and chat, competitions, behind the scenes and so much more!
Beer Pretzel Buns with Carrot Dogs
prep: 60 mins / cook: 1 hour 30 mins / inactive: 3 hours 0 mins / total: 5 hours 30 mins / quantity: 8 buns / dogs
Ingredients
Pretzel Buns
- ½ cup (110ml) almond milk
- 1 cup (200ml) vegan non-alcoholic beer – I used Fitbeer
- 2 tblsp vegan butter – I used Vitalite
- 1 tblsp coconut sugar
- 1 sachet (7g) fast action dried yeast
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tblsp bicarbonate of soda
- Sea salt
Carrot Dogs
- 1 tblsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tblsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ cup (125ml) water
- 8 medium carrots – scrubbed clean or peeled
Instructions
- Begin with marinating the carrots. Whisk together all the ingredients in a shallow ovenproof dish then lay in the carrots, rolling them in the marinade till they’re all covered. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours, turning occasionally
- Next make the bread dough – gently warm the almond milk, beer, vegan butter and coconut sugar. You want it to be no hotter than blood temperature – this means that when you put your finger in the liquid it feels neither hot nor cold! If it’s too warm there’s a danger it will kill the yeast – simply let it cool if this happens
- Whisk the yeast into the tepid liquid and leave to stand 5-10 minutes till the surface becomes frothy
- Add the flour and salt and mix together to form a dough
- Turn out onto your work surface and knead the dough for around 10 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic
- Put into a clean bowl, coated with just a tiny drizzle of oil, cover with a clean t-towel and leave somewhere warm till doubled in size – this takes around an hour at normal room temperature
- Once the dough is proven tip though dough out of the bowl and knock back – this helps remove any large air pockets
- Divide the dough into 8 and roll each one into elongated rugby ball shapes around 15cm (6 inches) long
- Place on 2 medium baking trays lined with parchment or a silicon mat, spacing quite well apart and leave to prove for a second time for around half an hour
- Heat the oven to 180 Fan / 200 C / 400 F / Gas 6 and boil a full kettle
- Pour the boiling water into a large saucepan and stir in the bicarbonate of soda then reduce the heat to barely simmering
- Cook the pretzel buns 2 at a time – carefully lifting off the tray and gently dropping into the simmering water. Poach for 30 seconds each side then use a palette knife or fish slice to lift out of the water and return to the trays
- Once they’re all poached, generously brush or spray with water and sprinkle with sea salt
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden
- Once they’re out of the oven turn the temperature up to 200 Fan / 220 C / 425 / Gas 7 then roast the carrots for 30-40 minutes until soft but still with some bite. Turn the carrots halfway through cooking and recoat with any remaining marinade
- Serve the buns split and stuffed with salad, roasted carrots and drizzle in any remaining marinade
Some products I used in today's post...
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Hello there! I’m Sam, former Michelin star pastry chef and now your go-to vegan foodie on a mission to make plant-based eating a deliciously easy adventure! From cozy comfort foods to vibrant salads and decadent desserts, there’s something for everyone in my kitchen.
Whether you’re cooking for one or for a houseful I believe food doesn’t have to be complicated to be full of FLAVOUR and I want to show you how. I’ve been a rigorous meal planner for over a decade whilst embracing seasonal ingredients (because that’s where the real flavour is!)
I’m also a dedicated dog mum to Nooch and Baxter and enjoy cooking them homemade treats (many of which are posted here) when I’m not screaming at the tennis or devouring fantasy fiction.
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