You heard that right – the Catholic Church played an instrumental role in creating and popularizing the pretzel, a soft or crunchy baked snack now associated more with Germans and carnivals. If you have ever wondered about where pretzels came from (aside from the oven), the following trivia might satisfy your curiosity. Let's discover more about German food and the history behind it. German soft pretzels, called Brezeln or Brezen in Germany, are soft inside with a bread-like chewy texture and have a deep brown outside that comes from bathing in a lye or baking soda … The soft pretzel has a long history, dating to 610 A.D., when French monks twisted and folded extra bread dough into the shape of a person’s hands criss-crossed on the chest, each palm touching the opposite shoulder, which was the traditional posture for prayer. If you just want pretzels featured on party decorations to liven up your German party, click here for some ideas you can use. It’s thought that pretzels were invented by an Italian Monk in 610 AD. Before baking, however, they are all dipped in lye, a sodium hydroxide solution that gives them their glossy, chestnut brown crust and unmistakable alkali flavor. The term ‘pretzel’ comes from the German word ‘prezel’ or ‘brezel’, (other German words include ‘bretzel’, ‘breze’ and so on), which originally came from the Latin word ‘ bracchiatus’ which means ‘ with arms or branches’. In Bavaria’s world-famous beer gardens, pretzels are also enjoyed with obatzda, a strong, cheesy dip made with butter, hot paprika, and Camembert. Our cakes and European pastries are baked in a traditional European style, following practices, styles and flavors that have been passed down from old family recipes. In Germany’s west-central Palatinate region, an area known for its very large, rustic plates of meat, pretzel fillings also include sliced blood sausage, liver sausage, and head cheese. Pretzels are usually sprinkled heavily with coarse grains of salt before they head into the oven, but poppy, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds are all common alternatives (and there’s nothing quite like a pretzel that’s been baked covered in Emmental cheese!). Pretzels made with yeast dough are traditionally baked in Swabia on Palm Sunday and in other parts of western Germany, made in celebration of St. Martin’s Day. A common story for the origin of pretzels is that they were created by a monk around 610 in Italy. Making pretzels by hand is a dying craft, however, and in most bakeries today, looping machines have taken over the job. Lye pretzels are popular in southern Germany, Alsace, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland as a variety of bread, a side dish or a snack, and come in many local varieties. A 12th-century illustration in the Hortus deliciarum from the southwest German Alsace region (today France) may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel. Chances are good that you have eaten all of these foods. The “good luck” connotation carried the pretzel to other holidays, including New Year’s Day, when in Germany children hung pretzels around their necks; pretzels hung on Christmas trees in Austria in the 16 th century; and parents hid little pretzels on Easter for children to find, an early version of an Easter egg hunt. To make pretzel dumplings, soak small pieces in milk and stir in sauteéd onions, chopped herbs, and seasonings before shaping the mixture into plump, round balls. More modern ideas include blitzing day-old pretzels into salty breadcrumbs or coarser chunks that can go into stuffing for festive roasts. When Germany enacted its Reinheitsgebot beer purity law —a decree that instructed brewers to only use water, barley and hops in beer production—in … The sturdy stone house was built from stones dug from the street itself and timber hewed from the surrounding forest. German Pretzels are popular all over the world. German Pretzels I converted and translated this from metric measurement and German … If you've been to Oktoberfest in Munich, you know it's not just about dressing up, drinking German beer and eating tasty Bavarian food. Rather than a salty pretzel, this is a lightly sweet dough. Thanks to industrialization, soft pretzel production spread quickly across the U.S., small, crunchy pretzels were invented, and they both became readily available in convenience stores and movie theaters throughout the country, just as they are today. Heat a baking stone in an oven to 450-500°. A Long History. And since National Pretzel Day is coming up soon, we decided to make one of our all-time German favorites, the Pretzel! Pretzels were made with a simple recipe using only some water and flour. Braten is a roast and spaetzle are yummy noodles. Furthermore, the dish has attained the status of an important feature of the region and German culture at large. Credit card data is not stored. Cook them gently in salted boiling water before browning the dumplings in butter, and serve with a creamy mushroom sauce. As time passed, pretzels became associated with both Lent and Easter. In the 16th century, it was heroic pretzel bakers who saved Vienna from ransacking by … Examples for pretzel names in various Upper-German dialects are Breze, Brezn, Bretzel, Brezzl, Brezgen, Bretzga, Bretzet, Bretschl, Kringel, Silserli… How to Make Traditional German Pretzels. Within the Christian Church, pretzels were regarded as having religious significance for both their ingredients and shape. How about braten or spaetzle? In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 1/4 cup warm water. They’re sprinkled liberally with sugar crystals. Another thought is that the three holes within the pretzel represent the three persons of the Trinity to teach children of this church doctrine. German children tied pretzels on a string around their necks at the start of a new year for good luck in the coming year. Soup and dumplings might not work quite so well as a Superbowl snack, but they’d make a wonderful nod to the pretzel’s European origins as part of a savory German feast.