Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Bread Twists

Say the title five times quickly!


These are inspired by the twists at Rockenwagner Bakery, for which I refuse to pay $3.50. Total cost for my batch of six was $3 for me because I have a lot of odds and ends in my kitchen, but I calculate it to be around $15 if you have to buy everything--but you'll also be left with a half pound of cheddar, lots of sesame seeds, and half a pound of bacon when you're done. So it's more like $15 for the first batch, but you could easily make three or four batches if you spend $20.

To make things really easy on myself, I used a 99 cent ball of Trader Joe's plain pizza dough. Rolled it out, and lined half of it with half a pound of Trader Joe's applewood smoked bacon. I actually added one more slice after this photo.

Cover the bacon with about a cup of cheddar and one tablespoon each of white and black sesame seeds. Use poppyseeds or other seeds if you prefer. Fold the dough over, or cut it and use the plain half to cover the bacon.

Brush the top of the dough with an egg wash, then cover liberally with one color of sesame seeds. Carefully flip the dough over, and repeat with the other color of seeds.

Slice the dough into six equal sized strips (about one inch wide each). Twist so that the white and black seeds both show, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover with a little bit of cheddar.

Pre heat the oven to 375 for half an hour while the dough rises, lightly covered with a towel or plastic wrap. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until brown around the edges. Cool slightly before digging in so the bacon and cheese will be crispy.

Comparison notes for the future:

• T, who introduced me to these, is right that Rockenwagner uses a lot less bacon than I did. They most likely cook a lot of bacon, cool and crumble it, then sprinkle handfuls onto the dough. But heck, I like bacon, so why not treat myself. I would cook it a little first if you like really crispy bacon. Mine was meaty and chewy, which I like just fine.
• My ingredients included Tillamook extra sharp cheddar and good smoked bacon, so the flavors were actually superior to that of Rockenwagner's twists. I'm not being big-headed, I'm just saying that when you make something with this few ingredients, the quality of each ingredient really makes a difference.
• The Trader Joe's pizza dough doesn't rise much, which was a problem for me. I might proof it next time, or make my own pizza dough. Because it didn't rise, the sesame seeds didn't become separated from each other like they are supposed to be. If I do use TJ's dough again, I would use less seeds.
• You could easily use just one type of seeds, or none at all. But the alternating white and black twists are so pretty!
• Rockenwagner uses a lot more cheese on top of the twists. Each twist actually has big crunchy sheets of crusted cheese coming off it. Which actually tastes incredibly good. I'll use more cheese next time. The thing with melting cheese in the oven is that just enough makes a thin, lacy, crispy sheet but too much makes a thick, hard, burnt mess. It's a fine line to walk, so err on the side of too little if you're not sure.