fine dining experience

Pretzel Bread Bowl with Cheese Dip

Our town is known as Pretzel City—even our local sports teams are known as The Pretzels. I came up with this dish for an annual community recipe contest. People couldn’t believe that the delicious bread had pretzels in the mix! For variety, try using different flavors of pretzels. —Andrea Johnson, Freeport, Illinois

Ingredients

  • 1 cup finely crushed cheddar miniature pretzels
  • 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
  • 1 package (1/4 ounce) quick-rise yeast
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup 2% milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
  • 1 teaspoon yellow cornmeal
  • egg wash:
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • Kosher salt, optional
  • dip:
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
  • 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
  • Optional: Chopped seeded jalapeno peppers and additional shredded pepper jack cheese
  • Assorted fresh vegetables

Directions

  1. Mix pretzels, dressing mix, yeast, sugar, baking soda and 1 cup flour. In a small saucepan, heat water, milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat on low speed until moistened. Add cheese; beat on medium for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.