Bagel Dogs

Sounds maybe a little weird, right? Well, I found this recipe a few months ago (I can't remember where...) and decided to give it a try the other night, mostly because I hadn't been grocery shopping in weeks and was looking for something to make that required only ingredients we already had. Ha!

I was definitely intimidated at first by this recipe because of the many steps, and I was pretty nervous that these would not turn out because I'd never made anything like them before from scratch. But they turned out being seriously so good! I'll post the recipe that I found originally...  I ended up halving it to make only 6 and using a little less flour than recommended. It's not necessarily a quick dinner because it takes some time to let the dough rise a couple of times and there are quite a few steps, but it really is pretty easy. And soooo delicious!

Bagel Dogs

2 cups warm water

2 packages active dry yeast

3 Tbsp sugar

3 tsp salt

5 1/4 c flour

12 all-beef hot dogs

2 tsp baking soda

1 egg yolk plus 1 Tbsp water, lightly beaten

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or course salt for garnish

1. Pour warm water into bowl of electric mixer and sprinkle with yeast. Let mixture stand about five minutes or until foamy, then stir in sugar and salt. Gradually add flour on medium speed, beating until well-blended and you have a stiff dough. Use dough hook to knead thoroughly until smooth and elastic in texture. Form dough into a lump and place into a lightly greased bowl, then turn dough over to grease the top. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

2. Once dough has risen, punch it down and knead briefly to eliminate any air bubbles. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board, and use a floured rolling pin to roll dough out into a 12x9 inch rectangle or until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut 12 1-inch pieces of dough.

3. Dry hot dogs thoroughly. Start at one end of a hot dog and wrap dough around, overlapping slightly making your way to the other end. Place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining hot dogs. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let stand in warm place for 30-45 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fill a deep, heavy pot with water and add baking soda. Bring to a gentle boil. Working 2 to 3 bagels at a time, carefully drop the bagel dogs into the boiling water, turning frequently with a slotted spoon or spatula, for about a minute. Lift out of water and gently dry each bagel with a kitchen town. Arrange bagel dogs about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat with remaining bagel dogs.

5. Brush bagels with egg glaze and sprinkle with garnish of choice. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until nicely browned and crusty (I only cooked mine for about 25). Turn pan about halfway through to cook evenly. Serve warm or let cool on wire rack!