Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel Bread

Hi Everyone,

I’m going to be frank with you!  I don’t like food bloggers!  There I said it!!  I don’t like them at all!!  They always come up with the most delectable treats and I have to make them!!  It’s not fair!  Do you want to see what I had for dinner last night?  Then you will understand why I don’t like food bloggers!!

See, I ate pretzel bread for dinner!  Fat, gooey, cheesy, stuffed with jalapeno pretzel bread!!!  Your probably wondering who I am mad at!  It’s Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction!  About a month ago she posted a 30 minute pretzel recipe, and I thought 30 minutes, I have to try that!  The rest is history!  They were so good!  The following week, my Husband asked when are you making pretzels again?  After I had a big dinner,  I was so full, but I made pretzels again and ate them!  The first time making Sally’s pretzels, I made them with all-purpose flour!  They were light and fluffy, so perfect!!  Then the second time I made them,  I used bread flour.  That was not by choice.  The grossest thing happened.  I reached into a fairly new bag of flour and saw some black spots in the flour. I was wondering what they were, then a spider came out of the flour!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!  A tossed that bag of flour into the garbage, grabbed the garbage bag and ran, tripping over myself, to the outside garbage can.  That was not fun!!  So by default I used bread flour instead of all purpose.  Oh man, they turned out good!!  A little to good if you ask me!  Then on my way to work yesterday morning, at 5am, I was thinking of jalapeno cheese pretzels, but in an actual loaf.  Who thinks of that stuff at 5am?  I guess a food blogger does?  I couldn’t stop thinking of it all day!!  So that night for dinner, I made these beautiful little pretzel breads!

Ok, I wasn’t fair to Sally at Sally’s Baking Addiction!  I just love her blog!  I discovered her blog a couple of months ago and I have simply loved all of her recipes.  She makes the most wonderful treats!  I swear I want to make everything!!  But what’s even better than her recipes, is her appreciation of her readers.  She posted a couple of weeks ago, photos of her food that her readers made and sent to her.  I thought it was so sweet!!  You really should check out Sally’s blog!!  Tell her I sent you and I said “hi!!”  Ok, let’s get talking about pretzel bread! First check out the center of the first piece I ate!

This bread takes like 10 minutes to make, really it does!  The first thing I did was add yeast and water to a bowl, added some sugar and salt, give a mix and in the flour it goes.  The recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, however I ended up using 3.  I wonder if bread flour is a thicker flour and I didn’t need as much?  But any way, mix the flour with the yeast mixture until it pulls away from the side.  Knead the dough about 5 or 6 times, until smooth.  Then place dough onto a floured surface.  With a rolling-pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle shape, and sprinkle with cheese and peppers.

Roll the dough up like you were making pinwheels or cinnamon rolls and seal the seams together.  Sorry for the pictures.  I had dough on my hands, and I made a mess all over my camera.

I cut the dough with my dough cutter, but a sharp knife should work.  Then place the dough seam side up onto a baking sheet, brush with egg and sprinkle with salt.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn the broiler on and bake for 5 more minutes!  That’s it!!  It’s really easy and the dough is wonderful to work with!

You could so serve these with nacho cheese, cream cheese, marinara  sauce, but personally I like them just as they are!  These would be so perfect for the Super Bowl or do like I did and have them for dinner!  They are so good!!  I am soooooo loving these!!!  I ate 4 for dinner!  Not a healthy dinner, but a dam good one!!

I wish these pretzels were not sitting on my counter right now.  I need to go to bed and I know I’ll be dreaming of pretzels!  Oh, by the way, these pretzels freeze nicely!  My Husband likes to take them to work and they defrost by his mid morning snack time!  I microwave them for about 20 seconds, then pop them in the oven for a few minutes.  Or you can place in a ziplock bag on your counter for a couple of days.  But honestly they are best fresh out of the oven!  I can not wait for them to cool, those jalapenos and melted cheese just calls me!!  I want to thank Sally for posting such a great recipe!!  It’s so much fun and so easy, not to mention quick!!!

Have a great day!

Toodles,

Jennifer