Celebrate Oktoberfest With 3 Different Recipes For Stuffed Pretzels

It's that time of year again – time for Oktoberfest! The original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, which is now in its 118th year, is the world's largest Volksfest with more than 6 million people from all over the world attending the event each year. The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 in celebration of King Ludwig I's marriage to Princess Therese of Saxeony Hildburghausen, at which point all of the citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities. Thankfully the tradition has carried on, and because we love any excuse to celebrate–especially when it comes to hearty German food–we have created a scrumptious soft pretzel recipe, with the real highlight being the 3 different kinds of fillings!

You'll Need (for 3 pretzels):

• 17½ oz flour
• 2¼ oz active dry yeast
• ¼ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 fl oz lukewarm milk

For the cheese filling:

• 3 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 oz crumbled feta cheese

For the pulled chicken filling:

• 1 marinated chicken breast
• 1½ oz corn
• 1½ oz roasted bell peppers
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• salt & pepper

For the BBQ pulled pork filling:

• 7 oz marinated pork
• 3 tbsp BBQ sauce

Extra:

• 2 tbsp baking soda
• 50 fl oz water
• coarse salt

Here's How:

1. First prepare the pretzel dough. Add the flour, active dry yeast, sugar, salt, and lukewarm milk to a bowl and stir everything together until a dough forms. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for 45 minutes until it doubles in size.

2. In the meantime, prepare the fillings by mixing the respective ingredients for each filling.

3. Lay the dough on a floured surface, cut it into 3 equally-sized portions, and then form each portion into an oval.

4. Roll each oval dough ball lengthwise with a rolling pin until it is about 16 inches long.

5. Distribute the respective ingredients in a 6 inch line down the middle and then tightly roll the dough in, starting from the corner.

6. Roll the ends a little thinner and longer and shape this oblong roll into a pretzel by crossing the ends over each other twice, and then folding them down and pushing them into the doughiest part of the pretzel.

7. Boil 50 fl oz of water with 2 tbsp of baking soda in a saucepan and submerge each pretzel in the soda bath for 20 seconds.

8. Lift the pretzel out with a slotted spoon and let all the water drain before placing the pretzel on a greased or parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt and bake for 20 minutes at 355°F, or a little less if the oven has been preheated.

And voilà – a Bavarian specialty that's second to none. If you want to keep the pretzel kick going, try our recipe for pizza pretzels found in the bonus video.