Maple Bacon Wrapped Soft Pretzel Bites

When I started the 365 Day Craft Challenge, Round 2 I had multiple goals in mind.  Granted I cannot remember most of them which is the most ironic thing about when I set goals as I have absolutely no idea when I succeed if ever.  But no concern there, what I do remember is that I wanted to make the dish that brought my entire world to a halt. Something that when it hit my taste buds that even I would be left without something to say...which is a rarity- ask anyone who knows me.

And not to toot my own horn but beep beep! I delivered.

Meet the bite that you will never be able to make enough of, the Maple Bacon Pretzel Bite.

Ingredients, as follows:
-MIX 1 C warm water with 1/2 TB light brown sugar then add 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast.  Let this sit about 10 minutes or until foamy.
-1 C whole wheat flour
-1.5C* AP Flour
-Coarse sea salt
-Bacon, cooked but not to crispy, you need it to be flexible and it will cook up some more in the oven, I used half strips and cut those in half long ways to make thin strips. Adjust yours to whatever shape you are making the pretzels (balls versus sticks versus whatever)
-REAL dark amber maple syrup, get off my lawn if you have that pancake fake junk!
-toothpicks
-kettle of boiling water (I used my large soup kettle half full with 1/2C baking soda.  Trim the soda down if you are using a smaller pan)
-1 egg mixed with a little water to form an eggwash
-toothpicks

First you will make the dough.  To the foamy yeast water (sounds appetizing, no?) add the whole wheat flour and mix to combine.  Once nearly combined, add one cup of the AP flour and mix until incorporated.  This should help you determine how much if any of the rest of the flour you need.  Mix in just enough for it to come to a ball. Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead five to ten minutes until smooth and elastic.

Form into a ball and put into an oiled bowl, turning to coat.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.

When the dough is ready, get the baking soda water boiling and preheat your oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.  Tear off small hunks and form into balls or whatever shape and size suits you.  I like to roll out all the dough first, then plop them about 10 or so at a time into the kettle and boil for one minute.  I remove mine with a tea strainer or colander depending on size.

Drain them and transfer them to the baking sheet.  When they are all out of the bath, coat with the eggwash and sprinkle a little salt.  Yes bacon has salt but trust me on this one you still want that sea salt.  Wrap the bacon strip around and secure with a toothpick.  Once all of this is finished, brush the bites again, especially the bacon portion, with a generous layer of maple.  This WILL get very messy in the oven so again let me suggest silpat or parchment.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Mine took 8 minutes on a silpat in a gas oven with dark nonstick pans.  If you do the complete opposite of all that it could take a little longer so don't be alarmed.

I don't know about you but I always tend to get alarmed when my recipes bake excessively different than what it says they will.  And trust me, my gas oven bakes EVERYTHING extremely different.

I murdered some chess squares a week ago not knowing how my oven would bake them.  Quite a mess, a sad sad mess.

So I had spent a lot of time googling bacon pretzels and I was less than impressed with what the internet had to offer.  My original plan was to make sticks but I also thought I was going to take these in to work so I needed something that made a lot of them, and I picked bite sized.

BY the way, let me go ahead and suggest doubling the recipe.  You are going to want a lot of these.

As proof, a little story...

Once upon a time there was a hungry college kid who made the mistake of making pretzels.  The next morning she woke up with borderline strep throat and did not go in to work.  She and the pretzels sat 'round the little ole apartment all day...except she picked them off one by one and ate all 30 or more pretzel bites in LESS THAN 24 HOURS.

The moral of the story is these are dangerous and you need to be prepared because willpower is really not an option.

I am not even this bad with cupcakes...

You don't really have to use whole wheat flour you can use all AP, I just used part wheat the first time and I really enjoyed it.  I love the taste and texture but let's face it if you are going to eat the entire container of them it really doesn't much matter what you make them out of.

But oh my my they were delicious.  Every.  Last.  One.

And you can never go wrong with bacon!

Happy crafting!