These stuffed pretzels are next level and you may never eat another store bought frozen pretzel again! This recipe is easy but takes time. There is a lot of prep work to get the flavors we are describing. You can stuff this with anything, but we will share our favorite supreme pizza sauce filling. Another favorite is turkey and cheddar. All the fillings need to be frozen or the pretzels will burst when heating. This recipe will make 12-16 stuffed pretzel balls about 2.5 inches in size.

Do not use package yeast, you will not get the right profile of flavor. You need to take the time to make a proper starter. This website describes how to make one that comes out very good. Feel free to look around the web for a variation on homemade yeast starter. https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-starter/

1/4 cup Baking soda

5.5 cups bottled water ( do not use tap but you can use filtered)

1 tbsp Brown sugar

1 cup of the starter you made

4 cups 00 Flour (double zero flour)

1 tsp Salt

14oz canned Pizza Sauce

2 tbsp Dat’l Hook Ya sauce

1/4 cup diced Onions

1/4 cup diced Pepperoni

1/4 cup diced Green Pepper

4oz fresh Mozzarella pearls

Bring a medium size pot to medium heat and add in the pizza sauce, Dat’l Hook Ya sauce, green pepper, onion and pepperoni. Cook for 10 min. Take an ice cube tray and place in 3 mozzarella pearls and enough sauce to fill the ice cube tray half way. Place into the freezer. It must be totally frozen before use. Do this also for any fillings you want to make such as turkey and cheddar cheese. The ice cube tray is the perfect size for fillings.

Preheat an oven to 275 degrees. On a baking sheet place aluminum foil and evenly spread out the baking soda. Bake the baking soda for 1 hour. Remove and place into a closed lid container. In a seperate bowl mix 1.5 cups warm water and brown sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Next add in 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of starter and mix. It will be very watery. Set aside for 20 min. Once 20 mins has passed, add in the remainder 3 cups of flour and knead the dough. You may need to add more flour or water dependent on how accurate you measured. The dough should only be a slight tacky. Knead for 10 min and place back into a bowl, spray with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise 1.5-2 hours. When ready to start making the stuffed pretzel’s, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Once the water is boiling, slowly add in the baking soda that was baked. Once the dough has risen, remove a 2.5 inch ball. Press a dimple into the ball and place in the frozen filling and pinch over the dough. Now roll the ball in your hands until it is smooth and perfectly uniform. You do not want any seams to let the filling escape. Do not over fill as the pretzels will explode the filling. Once the balls are perfectly shaped with the filling covered, place into the boiling baking soda water for 30 seconds. Make sure the ball is completely covered or rotate around to have all the dough exposed to the water. Do not exceed 30 seconds as the dough will get a metallic taste. Remove the pretzel ball from the water and placed on a wire rack to drip off excess water. Make a slight x shape score mark in the top. Do not cut through all the way as the filling will come out. Just barely cutting the surface. Place the balls onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 400 for 20-24 min until that perfect pretzel brown color.

This recipe will take some practice. You will learn how to pack the filling to keep it from bursting out. But honestly you will be shocked on how good of a dough and filling it is. Also, the stuffing possibilities are endless! Remember the key is to ALWAYS freeze the filling material