Pretzels?

[coloradoclyde]

In the beginning, bakers used to go and sell their produce in the streets and in markets, or have children go and do it for them. Local festivities such as fairs were another opportunity to sell pretzels: even in winter, pretzel vendors were out and about, as can be seen in a painting of 1828 by Peter Fendi.

The Brezel Bub

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, when I was stationed in Zwiebrucken, BRD in 1970-72, a local bakery made a similar looking pastry to a typical soft pretzel that was "studded" with nuts/dried fruit & sometimes rolled in plain or cinnamon sugar.

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

Much of cooking depends on making the food look good. Bread baked in a round lump will taste the same as cute shaped loaf. So the above sold bread may not have been much different in taste. After all pasta is pasta but we get a hundred different shapes.
Pretzels may have varied greatly in taste from one town to the next.

 

[Black Hand]

Much of cooking depends on making the food look good. Bread baked in a round lump will taste the same as cute shaped loaf. So the above sold bread may not have been much different in taste. After all pasta is pasta but we get a hundred different shapes.

Please remember the many different recipes & ingredients used to make pasta - each giving its own flavor and/or texture. Not all pasta is appropriate for all applications. The same applies to bread...

 

[tenngun]

That’s true but also some are just in same in different shapes, some breads are for sure different, some are same with different shapes. Some are the same dough but since they cook different they taste different.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Fresh out of the oven. I need more practice. :redface:
Made with white flour and sprouted wheat flour, brewers yeast, and used baked baking soda (sodium carbonate) for the dip. PH was 11.6 not very brown..

 

[Nativearizonan]

Fresh out of the oven. I need more practice. :redface:
Made with white flour and sprouted wheat flour, brewers yeast, and used baked baking soda (sodium carbonate) for the dip. PH was 11.6 not very brown..

Some of those you could use as belt buckles, if they are too hard to eat. :grin:

Nice looking homemade pretzels. Let us know how they are.

 

[George]

You need help. :grin: It's available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUoA-F3sdvw&t=531s

I'm not a pretzel fan, so I haven't tried this recipe, but I've cooked a lot of his other no-knead bread recipes, they have never failed me. Follow his instructions exactly.

Spence

 

[zimmerstutzen]

OK OFF TOPIC slightly. Yes some breads are vastly different. For the life of me I can't figure out the difference between French Bread and Italian Bread. They both come in long loaves, both breads are dry and they both look the same. I'd bet you could switch labels and no body would know. Now I like all kinds of bread especially fresh pumpernickle, raisin-apple cinnamon bread, and tomato bread. Mussolino's bakery in Hershey PA made a green olive, provolone, capricola bread that was super. But getting back to the subject, around here soft pretzel sandwich rolls are available. They are a favorite in this house. Brown and salt on the outside and about 6 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches high. Really good with ham and mustard, or roast beef and horse radish.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I threw them back in the oven for a bit....much better...They darkened up more too. crispy and chewy on the outside, soft on the inside.
They needed salt though, I didn't salt them.
They still went well with a homemade beer.
They tasted like pretzels....All in all, not bad for a first attempt on a whim.
Wife and I ate them all but one.... :grin:

 

[Black Hand]

For the life of me I can't figure out the difference between French Bread and Italian Bread. They both come in long loaves, both breads are dry and they both look the same. I'd bet you could switch labels and no body would know.

If you are speaking about the stuff you buy from the grocery store, there doesn't seem to be any difference. If purchased from a bakery, the differences are apparent. The stuff from the grocery store, with its spongy texture and complete lack of flavor (akin to Wonder bread) is only good for French toast...

 

[coloradoclyde]

For the life of me I can't figure out the difference between French Bread and Italian Bread. They both come in long loaves, both breads are dry and they both look the same. I'd bet you could switch labels and no body would know.

If you are speaking about the stuff you buy in the grocery store, there doesn't seem to be any difference. If purchased from a bakery, the differences are apparent. The stuff from the grocery store, with its spongy texture and complete lack of flavor (akin to Wonder bread) is only good for French toast...

A good baguette is to die for....

 

[Black Hand]

A good baguette is to die for....

As is a fresh loaf of rustic bread hot from the oven of a Sicilian bakery. Sliced, drizzled with local olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper - reminds me of Grandma's house.

 

[satx78247]

Unfortunately, as the supermarket where we usually shop, I was told that the "Italian" & "French" bread are made from the same dough. = Only the size & shape of the "2 kinds" varies there.

One of the 2 things that I miss about south-side Philly is the GREAT Italian bread from the local neighborhood bakeries.
(One of the bakeries claims that they always have FRESH/HOT/CRUSTY Italian bread there & that they bake it fresh at least 12 times every day, i.e., every TWO hours. = I've NEVER gotten a loaf that wasn't obviously "just out of the oven" & would be still warm when we got home.)

Addenda: There was also a "neighborhood guy" named Paulie who always seemed to have GREAT warm/soft pretzels for sale within a city block of our place.

yours, satx

 

[coloradoclyde]

You need help. :grin: It's available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUoA-F3sdvw&t=531s

I'm not a pretzel fan, so I haven't tried this recipe, but I've cooked a lot of his other no-knead bread recipes, they have never failed me. Follow his instructions exactly.

Spence

:haha: yep!....Thanks.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

When I was young, as in an early teen, on weekends and holidays, soft pretzel vendors would set up a card table and sell along the side of the road. Some had just one size and others had several sizes. I was riding with an older group of kids and we pulled over to one of these vendors and for $5.00 we got his largest pretzel. It weighed about 5 pounds and must have been 24 inches across. There was four of us in the car and we could not finish it. The remainder went some ducks at a park where we went swimming. My buddy's dad had a fit the next day when he got in the car the next morning to go to church and got salt and crumbs all over his black suit.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Funny.... :haha:
I deliberately made mine different sizes...To test and see which size I liked the best....

 

[tenngun]

Just a note: I had spent a few hours looking for Townsend’s recipe on you tube. Well due to my work schedule this month I didn’t get in my man cave until today. Turned over the Jas Townsend calendar and jumbles was the fetuured recipe for the month. :grin:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I deliberately made mine different sizes...To test and see which size I liked the best....

Next time don't forget to cross the "arms" and to give them a half-twist next time. :shocked2: You might want to increase the time of the "dip" to about 30 seconds or so, before baking.

GOOD ON YOU for using brewer's yeast....yum yum yummy!

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Crossing the arms was one mistake I made, not having boiling water was another which probably led to me having to increase the cooking time.
It was fun....