Vegemite and Cream Cheese Filled Pretzels

Difficulty: Medium

Makes 16

G’Day! Vegemite is one of our staples in Australia and in celebration of Australia Day, I’ve made a batch of Vegemite and cream cheese filled pretzels to take along to a barbecue this afternoon. If you’re one of those people who don’t like Vegemite, I don’t understand you but you can always leave it out and have the cream cheese filling instead.

Ingredients

• 7 grams dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 3 cups plain flour
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup vegemite
• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons bi-carb soda
• 2 tablespoons vegan margarine
• Rock salt

Method

1. Combine the yeast, sugar, salt, nutritional yeast and the first lot of warm water. Mix until the yeast dissolves.
2. Sift in the flours and combine well.
3. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a nice ball of dough.
4. Spray some oil in a large glass bowl, roll the dough around in it before covering in cling wrap and allowing to rise for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 230°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
6. In a shallow container, combine the rest of the warm water and the bi-carb soda.
7. Once the dough has risen, tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a nice ball before separating into 16 evenly sized balls.
8. Flatten out each ball into a flat oval and down the centre, spread a strip of Vegemite and a strip of cream cheese. fold the oval in half and pinch the edges to seal the filling.
9. Gently roll out into a long round sausage shape (about 15-20 cm).
10. Twist into a pretzel shape (you can learn this easily by watching a YouTube video) and dunk in the bi-carb bath before placing on the baking tray.
11. Allow to rise on the tray for 10 minutes before baking for 7-10 minutes or until golden.
12. Melt the vegan margarine and remove the pretzels from the oven. Brush the margarine liberally over the pretzels and grind sea salt over the top of each one.
13. Eat warm or allow to cool before serving.