brie + jam pretzel hand pies

I wasn’t sure what to call these. Calzones? Stuffed pretzel rolls? Circles of sweet and savory goodness?

But I ate them with my hands and a pie filled with brie and jam sounds pretty tasty, so… hand pies. Pretzel hand pies, to be exact. With brie and raspberry jam in the center. Oooooh yes.

Obviously I’m currently suffering from a case of post-traumatic house-moving disorder, thus my random thoughts and erratic sentence structure. OK, OK, I’m being dramatic. It wasn’t that bad, really. But if someone wants to come unpack all these boxes for me and put everything where it’s supposed to go while I sit here eating pretzel hand pies, that would be swell.

So anyway, about these hand pies. They are a sweet and savory and slightly miniature version my pretzel calzones, which were and forevermore shall be one of the most epic creations to come out of my kitchen (there also have been epic fails, let me tell you, but allow me to bask in this minor victory). I love them so, and yet — gasp — I haven’t made them in MONTHS. That is, until I decided to make these. And the rest is history.

Here’s the siuation going on here: We’ve got pretzel dough stuffed with raspberry jam and a chunk of soft, melty brie. It goes in a water bath, then gets sprinkled with sea salt and baked to warm, melty, pretzel-y deliciousness. And then we get to eat it — my favorite part.

Oh, and about this house! I don’t think I’ve told you much about it. It’s beeoootiful. It’s only about 10 minutes from our old apartment, which is awesome because I need my Target and Chipotle close by (first world problems, I know). It’s a bungalow, which I actually have no idea what that means but Elliott tells me it has something to do with the second story being just a bedroom (I just like the word bungalow). Oh andandand I will finally have a room of my own for bloggy work. I KNOW. I’m pumped. I shall give you a tour when, you know, it doesn’t look like we live out of boxes.

So exsqueeze me for the short(er) post today — I need to unpack my hairdryer before I scare off the new neighbors. Enjoy the hand pies!

Brie and Jam Pretzel Hand Pies
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: About 16 mini pies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 lb brie, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water (egg wash)
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

Combine water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer; let sit 5 minutes until foamy.

Add flour, salt and butter; stir to combine. Using a dough hook, knead dough on medium speed 5 minutes until smooth, elastic and slightly tacky (alternatively, you can turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand 10 minutes until smooth, elastic and slightly tacky).

Shape dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place 1 hour until doubled.

When dough is nearly doubled, combine water and baking soda in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Punch down dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. Re-roll out scraps as needed.

Spoon a teaspoon or so of jam into the center of half the dough circles. Top with a piece of brie. Top with another dough circle to form a pie; use fingers or fork tines to seal the edges. Transfer pies to a lightly floured baking sheet or platter.

Place about 3 hand pies at a time in the boiling water bath; boil 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove pies and transfer to a parchment paper or silicone mat-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pies, placing pies about 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

Lightly brush tops of pies with egg wash, then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until golden brown and puffed. Cool slightly on a cooling rack before serving.