Pretzel Time

Fulton, Muffin and I just finished making our first Lenten batch of pretzels.

I got this recipe from my favorite holy-day cook book called The Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz.

The pretzel is a very ancient bakery item, which traditionally was eaten only during Lent. It appreared each year on Ash Wednesday and disappreared on Good Friday. It goes back at least to the fifth century: there is a Roman manuscript in the Vatican Library dating from that period which shows a Lenten pretzel. As to the shape: it is made in the form of two arms crossed in prayer. The word bracellae, “little arms,” became in German Bretzel, then Pretzel. These early Christians ate no dairy products in Lent, so the pretzel was made only of flour, salt, and water: it was as simple as it could be.

Ingredients:

• 1 T. honey or sugar
• 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water (100-110 degrees F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast or 2-1/2 tsp
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• Coarse or kosher salt
• 1 egg, beaten

Add the honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Blend in the flour and knead the dough until smooth.

Cut the dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. You can make small pretzels with thin ropes, or large ones with fat ropes, but remember that to cook at the same rate, your pretzels need to be all the same size.

Place the pretzels on lightly greased cookie sheets. Brush them with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 425 degrees F for 12-15 mintutes, until pretzels are golden brown.