A lot of people in San Antonio definitely know that we have a rich Mexican heritage, but few people know that we actually have a very large history of german settlers as well. My husband's family hails from Devine and Castroville where less than an hour outside of San Antonio, many German and Alsatian families settled. We want our kids to learn about both cultures and be able to taste flavors from their diverse background. I've loved developing my own spin on soft pretzels and adding a little spice to the traditional beer cheese. These definitely take a little time and I'm not going to lie, the technique on making the pretzels took me a while, I had to watch several youtube videos. Please note, that even ugly pretzels taste delicious :)
For the pretzels
1/2 cup of warm water
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup of a wheat beer that you like
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp salt
4 1/4 cups of All purpose flour
For Boiling the pretzels
1/4 cup of baking soda
large pot of water
For baking
1 egg whisked
Coarse sea salt or pretzel salt.
Directions:
Combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl of a mixer with a dough hook, let it sit for 5 minutes. Add in the beer, butter, and salt, mixing on low. Add in the flour slowly and let the mixer go for 3 minutes on medium speed. If dough appears too wet, add another tablespoon of flour or so. Knead the dough for another 2 minutes on a floured countertop. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, with plastic wrap over the top and a kitchen towel, place the bowl in a warm spot for about an hour. I usually put mine on the back porch if its warm out, haha.
Once it's doubled in size, punch it down and divide into 8 dough balls. This is the part where you would benefit greatly from watching a few youtube videos, rolling out pretzels takes some technique but repeat after me, even ugly pretzels taste good :)
Once your water is boiling, add in the baking soda slowly.
place 1-2 pretzels in the pot of boiling water at a time, making sure to spoon the water over them and flip them over, approx 10 seconds each.
Take them out and place on a baking sheet. paint with the whisked egg and sprinkle generously with the coarse sea salt.
Bake in a 425 degree oven until golden brown, approx 12- 15 minutes, rotate half way.
For the beer queso
1/2 onion diced
2 jalapeño diced
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 cup of milk
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup of your favorite German beer
1 TBSP all purpose flour
12 oz of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Directions
in a a pan, melt the butter and saute the onion and jalapeño until soft. Add in the milk, beer, and cream cheese. Toss the shredded cheese with the flour and once the liquid is simmering, add in the shredded cheese and turn burner to low, stirring constantly until the cheese is melted. Serve alongside the soft warm pretzels and Enjoy!