The history of the Pretzel and recipe.

I was really excited about the information I found over the last two days.  I think it is very interesting to see how much our food has changed over the years.  Our Lent practices now are to refrain from meat on fasting days and every Friday during Lent.  At one time the practice was to not eat all animal products, including milk, butter, and eggs.  This dates back to the Roman Christians in the fourth century!  This started the custom and practice of Fat Tuesday also know as Strove Tuesday.  The week before Lent you would find every house using their butter, eggs, meats, and creams making dishes so the items do not go to waste.  Fat Tuesday or Marti-gra started as a celebration to finishing off all the rich and fatty dishes to start a season of self denial and cleansing of the Spirit and body.  During the weeks of Lent this would mean a lot of oat cakes along with wheat, peas, potatoes, and beans which were a staple food.  Countries that were surrounded by water, Ireland and Italy, used plenty of seafood  including salmon, scallops, lobster, mussels, and oysters to make hearty stews and soups.
Going back to Strove Tuesday I found a wonderful article on the Pancake and  it's use on this day.  Also, the history of the cross buns and pretzel.   You can read this wonderful article here.  During Lent they would still make breads, but with water, flour, and salt.  To remind themselves that Lent was a time of prayer they would make the bread to look like arms crossed in prayer, the pretzel!  The early Roman Christian called this bracallae meaning "little arms".  Later, the monks introduced the bread to northern countries.  The Germanic people used the word bretzel from the Roman bracellea, then calling it pretzel. 

Mixing the ingredients and then Kneading dough.

Rolling out the dough to make form the pretzel.

Lay roll out like a smile and then bring up sides to crossover.

Once crossover then bring ends down and pinch to bottom. 

Pretzel Recipe

1 packet of dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

4 cups whole wheat flour

In a mixing bowl place dry yeast and add warm water.  Stir until yeast is dissolved.  Add salt and sugar to bowl and stir.  Then add flour and beat egg.   Knead dough until combined and then separate in half.  I separated into balls until no more than 2 inches wide.  Then take each ball and roll out until you form a line.  (See captions and picture above for forming the pretzel.)  Lay roll out like a smile and then bring up sides to crossover.  Once crossover then bring ends down and pinch to bottom. Bake in oven at 425 for 12 minutes. 

If you would like to make a cute card to go with pretzels for friends or family see Catholic Icing for fun Printable!

What is for dinner tonight?
Garden Salad, Talapia,  Acorn squash soup, and our Pretzels

See A Sweet chief for the recipe I am using.  I have made this before and It taste amazing!


Project for today.  See Pinterest Board for ideas, recipes and crafts!