31 Days of Halloween: Day 31

For the final day of my 31 Days of Halloween, I made pumpkin beer pretzels with a Greek yogurt pumpkin dip.

Ingredients:

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 t)
1/2 C warm water, plus 2 C warm water
1/2 T sugar
1/2 t fine sea salt
1 t olive oil
1 C pumpkin beer of your choice (I used Post Road Pumpkin Ale)
3-4 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 egg, beaten
2-3 T coarse salt
1 T butter, melted

Step 1: In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over your 1/2 cup of warm water. Let rest for about 5 minutes.
Then stir in sugar, salt, and olive oil. Pour in the beer.

Step 2: With a wooden spoon, stir the flour in one cup at a time. You don’t want your dough to be too sticky, but you don’t want it to be too dry either. I started by adding 3 cups of flour which seemed to be enough.

Step 3: Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 8 minutes.

Step 4: Once you’re done kneading, place your dough into a lightly oiled bowl.

Step 5: Place bowl in a warm spot, cover with a kitchen towel, and let sit for about an hour to rise.

Step 6: Once the dough is risen, punch it down and you’re ready to form the pretzels. Start by dividing the dough into 12 balls, so you can make sure your pretzels will all be relatively the same size.

Step 7: Take one dough ball and roll it into a rope and form into a pretzel shape.

Step 8: Mix your remaining 2 C warm water with 1 t baking soda in a baking pan or other shallow dish. Dip the formed pretzels in. And then place on a greased baking sheet.

Step 9: Cover with a kitchen towel again and let rise for another 20 minutes.

Step 10: Brush each pretzel lightly with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Step 11: Pop in the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Step 12: Right when they come out of the oven, brush them with a little melted butter and let cool.

Sweet Pumpkin Dip Ingredients:
1/2 C pure pumpkin
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg

Mix all the dip ingredients together and place in the fridge until ready to use.

These weren't my favorite but they tasted decent. There was a recipe for a pumpkin beer mustard dip but I failed at making it. I think it's because I don't have a food processor for the mustard seeds. To reheat the pretzels, I just popped them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.