Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Combos

Do you know, I took an Ambien last night.

I'm a little out of it.

It seems like you took an Ambien this morning.

Right.

[laughing]

Well, I took an Ambien and then I slept for six hours.

Isn't it supposed to be more than?

Isn't it, like, eight hours?

Yeah, whatever. So...

I'm fine.

It doesn't seem like she's fine.

[light percussion music]

Oops.

I'm so frustrated by this.

Hey everyone, I'm Claire.

I'm in the BA Test Kitchen, and today, I'm making,

[groans]

I thought that was gonna be a good one.

Hey everyone, I'm Claire.

We're in the BA Test Kitchen and today,

I'm making Gourmet Combos.

[light percussion music]

The last time I had Combos, I was probably 12 years old.

It was at Camp Thunderbird for Girls in Bemidji, Minnesota.

I did indeed have a childhood, sort of.

I don't remember them being that good,

but I also kinda remember liking them.

My recollection of a Combo

is it's kind of a pretzel-like crispy little tubes

filled with cheddar cheese, like, sounds pretty good to me.

This to me feels like the standard size and flavor.

This one just says Combos stuffed snacks, cheddar cheese.

Right, some Combos I guess,

are cracker and some are pretzel-y.

So, we'll try both.

It has that powdered cheddar cheese kind of scent.

There's some light flakes of what I'm guessing are salt.

Okay, right off the bat, pretty good.

There's a lot of sweetness

in the cracker and the filling itself.

The cracker itself doesn't have a ton of character,

but it's very crunchy and kind of tender,

and that combination

with a little bit of creamy salty cheese,

come back to me after I've eaten 10 of these,

they won't be so good,

but the first bite, I think these are great.

What's not to like about Combos?

I'm getting more excited

by the minute with this Combo thing.

Oh, Delaney.

Oh, Combo Claire.

I just have a question. Yeah?

Like, people don't really talk about Combos that much.

No, it's first world problems.

It's not, like, out there in the culture.

Yeah.

But people like them, right?

I mean. There's positivity.

Good people like them.

They're the world's best gas station snack.

Ah, how come no one talks about Combos?

Everyone talks about Cheez-Its and Goldfish.

Maybe you're hanging out with the wrong people?

[Claire] What's your favorite kind?

I mean, pizza is the classic.

It's so good.

Andy doesn't seem busy ever.

Andy?

I have no idea what these are.

They are tubular pretzel

and crackers filled with cheddar cheese, and they're--

Well, I've had that before, you know?

When have you had them that wasn't a Combo?

They look a little like dog treats.

Right before I take a bite. Sorry.

They don't taste like it, that I know of.

I like these. It's kind of good.

It's like Italian seasoning. And like tomato powder.

Tomato powder. And like ranch powder.

Yeah, no, this is good.

When you bite into them, they are crunchy,

but they almost become like a little,

they're a little too brittle-y and dusty.

So, I want it to be a little bit more snappy.

[Claire] You gotta make sure

you get the filling in with it.

No, I got a little, I got plenty of filling.

I could maybe use a touch more of the filling.

It's so dry. Yeah.

I just need more balance,

like even the pretzel itself is just, it's so crumbly.

Yeah.

It doesn't feel like it has real snap.

Right now, I think the only thing that's distinctive

about the cracker part is that it's sweet.

My hope is that the dough is the same for the pretzel

and the cracker and they're juts doing a pretzel, you know,

they're just treating it to get the shiny brown outside.

I think it's gonna be kind of fun,

like I already have some ideas.

You're gonna do great. Yeah.

I wouldn't be surprised

if there was no leavening agent in here at all.

It just puffs because of the water content.

Looking at the cut surface of the tube,

I actually think that they're baked individually.

Initially, I was thinking,

okay, it's being made in a factory.

Maybe it's being baked in a long tube and then cut,

but actually, I think the first time

that the cracker part gets baked,

it's already in this length,

and that's because of the uniform color

around the cut sides.

If they were baked and then cut,

it would look more like this.

It would have a very distinctly cut surface.

Here's the pretzel kind.

We're gonna compare it side by side

to one of the cracker ones.

It might be that the cracker filling

is a little more yellow.

I guess it does look like it's a slightly different dough,

and slightly different consistencies.

Now it's time for my favorite part, reading the ingredients.

Wheat flour, vegetable oil, parenthesis, palm kernel oil,

palm oil, corn oil, hydrogenated palm oil,

and/or hydrogenated palm kernel oil, close parenthesis.

Whey, maltodextrin, sugar, modified cornstarch, salt,

less than 5% bakers and cheddar cheese blend, parenthesis,

milk, cultures, salt, enzymes, close parenthesis.

Leavening, parenthesis, baking soda,

sodium acid pyrophosphate, close parenthesis.

Dextrose, soy lecithin, coloring,

parenthesis, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake,

Blue 1 Lake, close parenthesis.

Hydrolyzed corn gluten, natural flavor, lactic acid,

yeast extract, lactose, buttermilk, citric acid.

Hmm, so in the dough itself,

it's mostly wheat flour and oil.

Sugar is pretty high on the list of ingredients,

and then it does have

a little bit of leavening, that's interesting.

There's some good basic information here.

It all makes sense, but I do want to go over to the computer

to really see if there's any information

about inside the factory and how they're made.

This is a very short Wikipedia page.

I'm concerned by the lack of information transparency

around Combos on the internet.

This can't be right.

It says, apparently,

this site is saying that a bunch of guys

with handheld caulk guns load the cheesy,

[laughs] filling into the hollow pretzel bits.

Tens of thousands of times every day to a high degree of,

no, there's no way, that cannot be right.

This says Combos were developed

from a patent purchased in the late 1970s,

so maybe there's some highly secret proprietary information.

I wasn't anticipating not finding anything out,

so it makes the job a little bit harder on the one hand,

on the other hand, it maybe makes it a little easier,

because I'm not, I don't have a particular set method

or approach in my mind that I feel like I have to stick to.

I could kind of make, you know, go anywhere with it.

So, my plan is to make a basic cracker dough,

and then just take some of that dough

and treat it pretzel style to make that shiny brown outside.

I try to form it and bake it into tubes.

I'm gonna start with the dough.

[upbeat jazzy music]

So, I'm gonna start out with flour.

Ooh, I'm gonna add some buttermilk powder, why not?

Cornstarch, maybe 15 grams sugar.

We're gonna do five grams salt.

I'm gonna do a little bit of baking powder.

Now, all these dry ingredients are gonna go into the mixer,

and now for the liquid,

it's gonna be a combination of water and oil.

Maybe I'll use a mixture of avocado oil

and refined coconut oil.

I'm so frustrated by this.

No scales work on this station.

They all go all over the place.

All right, we're gonna go measure this over there.

Oh it, no, it still.

Nope, it doesn't. Scale not working?

It still doesn't work.

I think the mic pack does something,

because when I took my apron off.

[Claire] You mean it's me?

And weighed my stuff, it was working.

Wait, so I'll stand over here,

and I'll tell you what to measure out.

[laughing]

Does it seem like it's working?

Nope, it's freaking out.

There goes that theory.

Let's try a different scale.

It's working, it's working, it's you.

Okay.

How much do I pour?

Just pour and I'll tell you when to stop.

[Sohla] Does this help you?

[Claire] What does 50 grams look like?

[Sohla] That's 54. [laughs]

There you go.

[Claire] Can you add 25 coconut oil to that?

[Sohla] Okay.

Then I'm gonna add it all and just start mixing.

I do want a pretty dry dough.

I'm basically just gonna knead it.

Here, I think I do have to add more water.

Do you know what I'm gonna do next?

What I'm gonna say?

It still has to rest.

[upbeat percussion music]

Today's really looking up.

I took a power nap.

I had a coffee.

Gabby just gave me a piece of mortadella,

and I have a seltzer.

It's a great day, and it's a holiday party later.

[metal grinding]

[laughing]

Just a little maintenance in the shop!

Yeah, totally. Is it too loud?

No, you're doing great.

Keep, keep going, okay cool.

Here's the dough that's been resting.

It's a little greasy.

I think I added kind of a lot of oil.

I'm gonna try rolling it out and just baking off

a slab of it to see what the texture is like.

Oh Brad, do we have any metal--

Yes? Do we have any metal straws?

Metal straws? Yeah.

No, I don't know, ask Gabby.

What do you need straws for?

To form a hollow tube of dough.

Isn't that a bit thin or not a big enough circle?

It's the inside. Right.

All right, nevermind.

Let me ask Gabby.

Get this little length of the dough

on this short little parchment sleeve.

I'm gonna try to form the dough around this straw,

and use it as a mold.

This is the theme.

I mean, the edges meet together,

but it just doesn't want to really pinch to itself.

This should've been my technique the whole time.

This is making it really even.

I just had that thought I always have during Gourmet Makes,

which is, what if I nail it on the first try?

I'm trying to really grip this parchment paper.

Oops, right, I'm gonna bake it and see what happens.

Here's my other idea.

So, these two tubes we've used them now

several times on Gourmet Makes for Mentos,

and I don't remember the last one.

They're just metal molds.

I slid the whole parchment wrap tube of dough inside,

and that's to help keep a round shape,

so it doesn't settle onto the flat surface as it bakes,

and I'm gonna pop it in the oven.

All right, I'll come back in 10 minutes and check.

[upbeat percussion music]

What I'm looking for

is just the heat of the oven to set the dough.

The dough is so insulated,

and there can't be a lot of moisture loss

because of that, so let's see.

It doesn't look bad.

It did shrink a bit, so where the seam was,

it pulled away from itself a little bit.

It kinda worked as a first pass.

So, I only wanted to bake the dough enough to set it,

and have it be sliceable, and then I'm gonna bake it again.

There's my little pale dough bits.

I wish the hole were a little bit bigger,

and obviously, it's not centered.

So I'll do a better job next time

of forming it around the straw,

but before I try to adjust the dimensions,

I do want to put them back on a baking sheet

and put them in the oven until they fully bake through.

[upbeat percussion music]

All right, all right, they're looking kind of golden.

I think maybe they need to be baked at a lower temperature,

but let's just see.

They got a little bit golden.

They actually got kind of little grill marks,

the way that actual Combos have, and actually, this.

One thing I didn't really notice when I was looking at them

is there's kind of a seam right here.

They all have a seam.

Wow, I didn't even really pay attention to that.

I wasn't really doing my job earlier.

They have a seam, now I know.

It's pretty plain tasting.

Not bad, just a little bland.

Okay, grab out my, grab my notebook again.

I'm gonna make some changes to the dough formula.

I'm gonna double the sugar.

It really is surprisingly sweet.

Then the baking powder, I'm gonna increase to five grams.

I'm gonna do everything else,

and then I'm put it together in the mixer.

Here's the dough.

It didn't quite come together in the mixer,

same as last time.

All right, now I'm afraid actually,

we are gonna have to let it rest

because it's just not gonna roll so well.

Has Claire done this yet? What is that?

Oh, you haven't played with it?

Uh-uh.

[Claire gasps]

Oh, wait, hold on.

This is not, that's weird.

Have you seen this?

[Group] Yay!

25 seconds, I will say.

Did I get an A?

You got an A. Awesome.

You got an A. Yay!

You know what?

We're the only people under 30 seconds.

Yes. Wow!

You guys, this is the most fun thing I've ever played with.

I know, you should have seen.

I love when I'm good at stuff. [laughs]

Okay, all right, all right.

Ooh, that was fun, okay.

All right, the dough is hydrated. [laughs]

So, I'm gonna use that same technique

that I was using before

where I create leverage with the parchment paper

to compress and even out the thickness of the pastry.

This is baker's twine.

It's, I think it's probably like cotton.

What's up with the twine?

I'm trying a thing.

So, here my idea.

I'm gonna make pre, I'm gonna pre-cut.

Oh, so you're gonna score it?

Or you're gonna completely?

Yeah, I'm gonna cut all the way through.

I'll just make sure the twine is positioned,

that I'm fully parallel.

I'm pre-cutting the Combos,

so that they look more like Combos, I guess.

Like they have too much of a cut face

when I do this after the baking the first time.

I'm now wrapping it back up,

putting it in the molds, and baking it.

[upbeat percussion music]

Instead of taking them off of the straw,

I'm going to leave them on the straw, but just separate them

because part of what's happening is

as they bake without the straw,

they're kind of closing up into that space,

and I don't want that to happen.

I want them to have the full area of the straw cut out,

if that makes sense.

Now I'm gonna bake it again at a slightly lower temp,

and then I'm gonna play with that toy again,

because it, like, does something to my brain.

[upbeat percussion music]

[timer beeping]

Hold on.

This one is, ugh, okay.

Now I hate, [laughs] now I hate it,

and I don't want to use it ever again.

Here they are, they look good.

They got evenly golden.

Using that method where they bake

the second time still on the straw,

it did a good job of keeping

a really sharp cylinder through the center.

I think the outsides are a little thick,

so next time I would roll the dough thinner

before I wrap it around the straw.

What a great day.

Today was so fun.

I just like the energy.

Where's that toy?

I'll play with that thing until it's time to leave.

[upbeat percussion music]

So, I don't know what happened

to the Combos that I actually cooked last night,

but this is the same dough.

Let me just roll it out.

I wonder if a pasta roller is a way to go?

[upbeat percussion music]

Well, not great. How'd that go?

I just shredded the dough into tiny pieces.

Okay, I just had an idea based on the pasta roller.

What if instead of trying to roll a single uniform thickness

of dough around the straw,

I roll, I spiral around the straw

a super, super thin layer of dough

until I get the thickness that I like all the way around?

Then I just trim it off and bake it.

Because the Combos kind of have layers,

that's what I was thinking about last night,

like take a look at this.

No, not that I think that's how they're doing it,

but like these kinds of flakes and everything.

I sort of like that idea, but it does mean I have to come up

with a dough that has some extensibility and elasticity.

What I might do is keep the same recipe,

and then add the water first, and really try to work it.

[upbeat percussion music]

I'm increasing the amount of water,

and I'm not adding sugar, I'm adding honey,

and I haven't added the fat yet

because I want the liquid to hydrate all the flour first.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Oh yeah, that's dough that rolls.

The plan is to wind it around the straw

until I get to the overall thickness of dough that I like,

and then to use the same

cutting and forming method as before.

It still feels pretty soft, this dough,

because of the higher amount of hydration,

it probably will need to bake longer.

The dough has really fused together,

so now I'm gonna go back in,

cut them again, and pull the pieces apart.

[upbeat music]

Oh, they look so smooth and good.

So, they're very off-center.

I'll use a different forming technique,

but I really like the way that these look.

Made good progress from today and from yesterday and today.

Each time it seems like it's getting a little better.

Wow, it's really good.

It's very light in the way that a Combo is light.

Wow, it's very similar.

The cake flour makes a big difference.

It is a much lighter texture cracker.

This would benefit from a seasoning coating

on the outside like these have.

I think this needs more salt in general,

like a lot more salt.

Good, I know what I want to do next.

I'm gonna make another batch of dough with these tweaks.

[upbeat percussion music]

So, I'm working one piece at a time.

I'll keep the rest of these covered.

I made it much thinner so that I wouldn't have

such a dramatic difference in thickness all the way around,

and actually, it looks good to me, it really does.

[upbeat percussion music]

Did I forget to add baking powder to this dough?

I think I did, also it's too salty.

I think I have to start over on the dough.

But maybe it's just a good time to stop.

It's not. [laughing]

It's three o'clock in the afternoon.

Same thing, but doing it right this time.

[upbeat percussion music]

Well, they look great.

See, these definitely puffed.

All right, I think these look great.

This to me is the best version yet.

The hole is pretty well-centered.

They look a lot better.

They're very smooth, the color is nice and uniform.

They also have nicely placed centers.

They're pretty in the middle, which is good,

and that was just a matter of rolling the dough thinner

and wrapping it more times, and it worked out really well.

They look super Combo-y.

[crunching]

Oh my god, look at it.

So cracker-y and good.

So flaky.

Mm, very light, well seasoned.

I love Combos now.

Yay, this feels like a good time to end this day.

[laughing]

At this point, the hard part's over.

I'll kind of smoothly sail the ship

into the port on day three.

[Producer] Is there any danger in talking about this?

No, no.

No, it's gonna be fine.

The only thing is you're gonna have to all remind me

what I did because I'm not gonna be back here for awhile.

[upbeat percussion music]

All right, it's a whole new year.

What day is today, the 2nd?

The second day of 2020.

I barely remembered what we had started, but it's Combos.

Now it's all coming back to me.

Today I'm going to focus on production,

making more of these turning some into a pretzel coating.

I'm not literally making pretzel dough

because there's yeast involved,

and I'm not gonna go through that whole process.

I'm just using the same cracker dough,

but I do want to create a shiny,

very browned pretzel coating on the outside,

and there's a couple different ways to do that.

One is to use baking soda.

To make baking soda more alkaline,

which then makes it more effective

in creating the pretzel coating.

You have to bake it at a low temperature,

and there's some kind of molecular change that happens.

So, even though I don't really understand

that full transformation, I do know that I want to get

some baking soda baking in the oven,

because it takes about an hour.

It will make it strong enough to irritate,

so then we'll handle it carefully.

Remind me to not touch this

with my bare hands after it comes out.

Before I start putting together the actual doughs,

I think I want to make a couple of spice mixes

that I can use to flavor the different doughs.

I guess I want one of them to be

kind of like an Italian-ish type seasoning,

and the other one to be maybe more like pretzel-y

kind of seasoning, like with mustard powder.

In both cases though,

I'm starting with a base of buttermilk, so let me add that.

Now in each of these, cayenne, onion powder, in both.

For the pretzel flavor, garlic powder,

ground mustard, paprika, cheddar powder.

I'm gonna shake this up and give it a taste.

It tastes really good.

Now for the Italian seasoning one.

I have Parmesan powder, tomato powder,

dried oregano, whole fennel seed.

Mm, really good overall.

I'm happy with how each of the blends turned out.

I'm gonna label these.

I'm gonna make the two versions of dough.

[upbeat percussion music]

So, this one is 'za for pizza,

and this one is 'el for pretzel.

So I have my doughs here.

They had a long time to rest,

and now I'm gonna roll them out in my pasta roller.

[upbeat percussion music]

That looks great. Thanks.

It looks kind of [beep] and industrial,

and like it doesn't have a soul,

then it's like, it's perfect.

But in a good way.

But in a good way.

Then it bakes like that.

Why does it bake in the cannoli form?

Just so that it doesn't get a flat side as it bakes.

It stays really round.

I know, I know. Claire.

It's just that next level where I would be like,

[beep] it, it's gonna have a flat bottom,

but we all can imagine what it would look like

without the flat bottom.

[Claire] Yeah.

But you take it that next little bit.

[Claire] Thank you.

And it just, oh, wow.

Well, we gotta make our own fun, you know?

I'm so impressed. Thank you.

I would say I haven't broken a sweat on this one in general.

Wow.

What I want to do next

before I make any more of this flavor is figure out

the baking soda solution for making a pretzel coating,

so I'm gonna pivot to that while these are in the oven.

So, I just went back to that Harold McGee article

about the baked baking soda.

The proportion that he gave was about 100 grams.

What?

Don't touch that. Oh right, I forgot.

It's fine.

Nothing's happened so far.

All right, I'm gonna make a solution.

Dissolve the baking soda in the water.

Did it vaporize?

Oh no, really?

Everyone stand under the hood.

And then I dip the unbaked dough into the solution,

let it sit there for three or four minutes,

dry off the excess and bake it,

and it should get that varnished shiny pretzel coating look.

[upbeat percussion music]

I'm sorry, does that say 450 degrees on that?

How hot is this top oven?

350, this is an oven that's 100 degrees off.

That's actually a very beautiful color.

I wonder if I need to egg wash for shine?

They don't smell that pretzel-y. [laughs]

So, these are the two.

It's the same dough.

The one on my left, your right got that dip,

that dunk in the baking soda solution.

So obviously, it changes the color dramatically.

The color looks good, it looks pretzel-like,

but I am going to try before I put them

for the second round of baking where they dry out,

brushing them with a a little bit of egg white,

to encourage a shiny finish.

[upbeat percussion music]

Ooh, ooh, okay. [laughs]

Well. [sighs]

How done is too done?

How burnished is too burnished?

I think they look incredible.

I'm gonna go with they're not burned,

and they look amazing, look that that.

Look at that pretzel coating.

Is anyone else sharing my enthusiasm?

Do we think that they're too dark?

Because it tastes very pretzel-y,

but then you have all of the Italian seasoning,

it's like kind of weird.

I think that next time, I have to do less of a soak.

I'm gonna cut it in half and do two minutes.

[upbeat percussion music]

Ooh, they got a little dark, uh-oh.

Well, so much for my less time theory,

but I'm actually surprised

at how well the baking soda works.

[Cameraman] Are you sure these won't burn your organs?

No, no.

I'm sure they're safe.

So, we have Italian, pretzeled Italian,

savory, and pretzeled savory.

It smells really good, I'm very happy with the flavor.

The pretzel thing worked better than I thought it would.

Overall, the shapes of all of them

look very even and Combo-like, and I'm very pleased.

No day three curse,

and I know that we'll wrap it up tomorrow.

No one got burned from chemical solution baking soda.

[upbeat percussion music]

So, I was going home last night,

and I had been reading about the baked baking soda

and how to pretzelize something. [laughs]

I didn't read the last sentence, which said to rinse it

after you soak it and before you bake it.

So, that explains why they got really, really dark,

and it's a little bit of a question mark

whether or not these are acceptable to eat.

I ate two of them yesterday, I felt fine.

[laughing]

But I just don't want to do it again

is what I'm trying to say, right?

It's probably okay.

I think it's probably okay too.

Brad would probably eat it.

Yeah. You know?

Would you eat it?

I'd wait 24 to 48 hours. After I ate it?

Yeah. Okay, all right.

So, what I hear is I'm not redoing it.

I don't think so.

That was the answer I was looking for.

Yeah. Thank you so much.

In conclusion, Chris said it's fine.

I'm gonna out these into the dehydrator while I then focus

on making the filling, filling the Combos, and then tasting.

What's that?

Oh god, jeez! Whoa.

[laughing]

Beautiful. That was too much.

[laughing]

That was too much, that was too frantic.

This is a block of aged cheddar, 18 month.

I think this is a good place to start flavor-wise.

I'll do a plain cheddar flavor,

then instead of jalapeno,

what if I do Calabrian chili?

Which is very gourmet.

For the pizza, instead of pepperoni,

I make an 'Nduja filling.

'Nduja is a type of spreadable Italian sausage,

and it's spicy and it's delicious.

That is really gonna upgrade our homemade Combos.

So, I like the idea of more of a spicy mustard,

maybe some Dijon, maybe some horseradish

or something like that with the cheddar.

Ooh, Kewpie.

My approach is to make one single kind of

plain cheddar cheese mixture in the food processor,

and then divide that into three,

and then just kind of stir in the flavors

for the three kinds of fillings.

[upbeat percussion music]

Ooh, you know what I want?

Cream cheese, obviously.

That is the obvious place.

That's gonna be a great base.

Kewpie mayo, Worcestershire sauce, and then soy sauce,

the cheese little by little,

cheddar cheese powder, and Parmesan powder,

Calabrian chili oil, and garlic powder.

It tastes incredible.

It looks like I have about 300 milliliters,

so I'm gonna start with the mustard flavor.

I'm gonna put in a third of this mixture.

This is the savory seasoning mix.

This is Colman's mustard, so English style mustard.

It really packs a punch.

Now a bit of the horseradish mustard.

I also want to add a tiny bit

of very, very, very finely chopped scallion.

All right, I think it's not quite spicy enough,

so I'm gonna add a pinch of cayenne to this.

Okay, mustard is done.

The next cheese I'm going to do is Calabrian chili,

which I'm gonna do is finely chop up one of these chilies,

and then blend them into

the next third of the cheese mixture.

It kind of hits you on the finish and it's subtle.

It's not, these are not incredibly hot chilies,

but it's incredibly delicious.

Okay, so here is an unopened 'Nduja.

So, it looks like salami,

but then it has a very soft consistency

and smooth just like that.

I'm gonna put this into the food processor.

You know what?

I'm gonna add a little bit of the pizza flavoring

into it also, just a little bit though,

I don't want it to be overpowering.

It's just not enough in the food processor

to get the 'Nduja to incorporate,

so I'm gonna do it by hand.

I'm just gonna work it in with a spatula,

and then I'm gonna very, very, very finely dice

some of the pepperoni and put that in.

So it'll be little tiny cubes

of pepperoni in the filling as well.

All that finely chopped pepperoni is in here.

I think this looks good.

I'll give it a little taste.

Very, very good.

I'm really happy with the flavors of all of them.

These will go now into the refrigerator

to set up a little bit before we pipe them.

Last thing will be filling and tasting.

Hopefully no one dies from the pretzel.

I'm gonna grab the crackers from the dehydrator.

It smells very good.

They look great.

Okay, so I picked up this pastry tip.

I'm gonna fill it like I would fill a cannoli,

if you've ever seen that done.

I decided that I'm actually just going to fill,

I'm gonna make every combination possible,

so there will be 12 total,

'cause three fillings times four different shells.

Are we gonna have to label these, do you think?

So I'll know what's what? It's getting complicated.

This is all the arts and crafting

I get to do in this episode, I enjoyed that.

So I'll start with savory pretzel plus spicy mustard.

Just savory plus spicy mustard,

and then Italian pretzel, spicy mustard.

Wait, it looks so similar, look!

Almost the exact dimensions, same color filling.

Okay, now I'm gonna go on.

I'll do the Calabrian chili

and also my favorite part of this so far is just the plate.

[upbeat percussion music]

The second filling is done.

I just couldn't be more into this whole symmetry

and everything, I love it.

[upbeat percussion music]

[Coworker] What are you doing?

I don't want to talk about it.

I'm making a Twister board, so people can spin the wheel

to figure out which one they're gonna try.

What are you doing? Chris.

Are you just making things difficult

for yourself just to kill time?

No, no. [gasps]

It works!

[laughing]

Yay!

Okay, what do we call this?

One, two, three. Wheel of Combos!

[laughing]

All right!

We really gotta make our own fun on this show.

Ooh, okay good one.

Savory pretzel and spicy sauce, that's a good one.

We think you're gonna be fine if you eat it.

[laughing]

This is by far better than any Combo I've ever had.

Thank you, I wish the bar was higher,

but thank you anyway.

Yeah, just a quick.

Ooh, there you go.

Ooh. Ooh, good one.

Ooh, it's in the middle. Okay.

You got savory and spicy sausage filling.

They look exactly, they look better.

Thanks! It's so good.

It look like a mandala, and it's prosperity.

No, it's a board game. Okay.

Ooh, you won, you got the one where there's only one left.

Italian pretzel and Calabrian chili.

Chris, just eat the whole thing.

He takes a bite, I know, I love it.

I'm watching.

Wait, can I see the bite part?

Oh, see that looks pretty good.

Can you show the camera?

Oh, it's so good, like delightful.

It's like tasty, it's creamy,

but the shatter to that pretzel.

It even tastes like a pretzel,

like it really has that snap on the outside.

Mm, the mustard!

Oh my god, I love it. I'll save you the time.

Love it, love it, love it!

They look great.

I think the pretzel ones look much more appealing

than the pretzel originals, and overall it was a lot of fun.

I used a lot of different techniques,

a lot of fun equipment, and I got to make this little board,

this little Combo game board.

I think Combos more than the average Gourmet Makes,

I could simultaneously nail the look,

and make it just much higher quality than the original.

I can't always achieve both, but I think in this case,

it was kind of maybe on both counts,

so that is certainly a win.

[upbeat percussion music]

Here is how you make gourmet Combos.

Bake baking soda at 275 Fahrenheit

for an hour to alkalize it then let cool.

Dissolve two thirds of a cup of baking soda

in two cups of water and set aside.

To make the savory powder,

combine two tablespoons buttermilk powder,

two tablespoons ground mustard,

two tablespoons cheddar powder, two teaspoons onion powder,

two teaspoons paprika, one teaspoon garlic powder,

and a quarter teaspoon cayenne pepper, set aside.

To make the Italian seasoning powder

combine two tablespoons buttermilk powder,

two tablespoons Parmesan powder,

one tablespoon tomato powder, two teaspoons onion powder,

two teaspoons powdered dried oregano,

and two teaspoons ground fennel seed, set aside.

For the dough, combine 240 grams cake flour,

10 grams kosher salt, 15 grams cornstarch,

eight grams baking powder, and 30 grams savory

or Italian seasoning powder in a bowl.

Make a well in the center

and pour in 100 grams water and 30 grams honey.

Mix just to hydrate, then add 50 grams avocado oil.

Knead until the dough is smooth

then cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Roll our small portions of dough

in a pasta roller until very thin.

Dust lightly with flour as necessary to prevent sticking,

then cut into rectangles measuring about eight inches across

and two and three quarter inches wide.

Tightly roll the dough around a straight metal straw,

then use thin thread to pre-cut the length of dough

into crosswise segments.

Dip some of the tubes of dough in the baking soda solution

then place the straws seams side down

in a metal cannoli tube

then set on a wire rack on a small baking sheet

and bake at 350 Fahrenheit

until the dough is set about 10 minutes.

Cut along the same cuts you made with thread

and separate the lengths of dough

sliding off the straw onto the rack

then bake again until the dough is light golden

and dry all the way through, about 15 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

To make the cheese filling

process four ounces cubed room temperature cream cheese,

a quarter cup Kewpie mayonnaise,

a dash of Worcestershire sauce, one tablespoon soy sauce,

in a food processor until very smooth.

Add three ounces grated white aged cheddar cheese,

five tablespoons yellow cheddar powder,

three tablespoons Parmesan powder,

a half teaspoon Calabrian chili oil,

and garlic powder to taste,

then process until very smooth.

Divide the mixture in thirds.

To the third of the cheese filling stir in savory seasoning,

Colman's mustard, horseradish mustard,

finely chopped scallion greens and cayenne pepper to taste.

To another third,

stir in very finely chopped Calabrian chilies,

and to the final third, stir in softened 'Nduja,

Italian seasoning powder, and finely chopped pepperoni.

Transfer the fillings to a piping bag

and fill each of the Combos individually

in all possible combinations of filling and cracker.

What, do you know what it is?

I'm not a chef. Neither am I.

That's a thing no one ever actually realizes.

I'm not a chef. You're a pastry chef.

[Claire] No, I'm not.

Do I work in a restaurant making pastries?