Hearty dinner for the hubby

My husband likes "hearty" food.  Think casseroles and meat.  Lots of meat.  Too bad he married a vegetarian!  I will say that we do have meat in our house and, sometimes, I make it for him.  Last night was a perfect example, T and I went out for lunch and she had a sandwich she was raving over.   So I figured I would recreate it for Markers at home.  Homemade pretzel "bun," caramelized onion, turkey, pepperoni toasted and then topped with shredded lettuce, tomato and mustard.  I added the onion and pepperoni to my version because I'm crazy like that.

Here's the recipe for the homemade pretzels*:

INGREDIENTS

1 packages active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)

1/4 cup sugar

1t salt

2T butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 egg yolk

2 t water

coarse salt or, in my case Lawry's seasoned salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit according to package directions.

2.  Add sugar, salt, butter and egg. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of flour; mix well.

3. Continue adding enough additional flour to make a stiff dough. Knead dough 8-10 minutes on lightly floured surface--flour your hands too!--until smooth (I actually just ran my bomb diggity Kitchenaid mixer for an extra 5 minutes.  I mean, it has a bread hook). 

4.  Shape into a 12-inch log then cut in half length wise and then width wise.  Cut each section into thirds.  Now you have 12 equal-ish  pieces.

5. Roll each piece into a 15-in. rope.   Coil the rope around itself into a round shape for use as a bun.  Twist a few into the traditional pretzel shape, or witch fingers** and place on a well-greased baking sheet.

6. Set aside and let dough rise for 30 minutes.  

7.  In a small bowl, combine egg yolk and water; brush over the pretzels. Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired (I used Lawry's seasoned salt and garlic salt on mine).

8. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

*Funny story:  the pretzel recipe is from my middle school home economics class--I still have the handout and a handwritten copy that I must have made as well.  I enjoyed this class and spent much time after class there.  Or was that because we purposely flooded the sink and another time I watched other kids wad up dough (or in one instance raw meatballs) and stick it to the ceiling?

SANDWICH BUILD

INGREDIENTS

2 T sliced onion

3 deli slices, turkey

4 pepperoni discs

1-2T shredded cheese (I used the "pizza" blend we already had opened)

DIRECTIONS
1. sautee up the onion

2. Remove pretzel bun from oven (see recipe above) and then top with sliced turkey, pepperoni, onions, shredded cheese

3. toast over medium heat for about one minute per side

4. remove from heat and top with fresh shredded  lettuce, tomato slices and yellow mustard

**witches' fingers:

paint sliced almonds with red food coloring and press them really hard onto 3 to 4-inch pretzel ropes, score in "knuckles" with a knife and then bake!  Thanks to Martha Stewart for the idea :)