Smoked Beer Cheese & Pretzels Recipe

Ingredients

Pretzels

1 cup warm water
3 teaspoons yeast
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½ cups hot water
1½ tablespoons baking soda
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup pretzel salt

Smoked Beer Cheese Dip

1 cup cream cheese
¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons hot paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1¼ cups lager beer
handful oak or pecan wood chunks

Preparation

1. Whisk warm water and yeast together in a medium-size bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar and salt together. Add water and yeast mixture.
3. Stir until combined into a ball of dough.
4. Spread a handful of flour onto counter. Place dough on top of the flour and knead for 5 minutes.
5. Brush the bottom of a medium-size bowl with vegetable oil. Place dough in bowl and cover with a kitchen towel for 1 hour.
6. While the dough is rising, preheat your smoker to 115°C and toss a couple wood chunks onto the charcoal.
7. Mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, paprika, garlic salt, pepper and beer in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Stir until combined and melted.
8. Place skillet with cheese dip onto the smoker grate and smoke for 1 hour.
9. Cut the dough in half and cut each half into 6 pieces.
10. Roll each piece of dough into a 60 cm rope. Form an upside down "U" shape. Cross one end over the other and twist the two end pieces around each other once. Then bring the end pieces to the bottom of the "U" and press to form the classic pretzel shape.
11. Whisk hot water and baking soda together in a medium-size bowl.
12. Submerge each pretzel into the solution for 10 seconds. Shake off excess liquid and arrange pretzels on a baking sheet.
13. Preheat grill to 230°C.
14. Brush pretzels with butter and sprinkle with pretzel salt.
15. Place baking sheet onto grill grate and cook for 10 minutes.
16. Remove pretzels from grill and cheese dip from smoker.