[Sca-cooks] Pretzels

[Stefan li Rous]

  WdG commented:
> > AFAIK, there are no existing pre-1600 recipes for pretzels.  If your 
> recipe
> > calls for flour, water, yeast and salt, it's probably as close as 
> you will
> > find.
> >
> > Bear
>
> That was my thinking, as well, but more to the point I was curious to
> know if period pretzels were boiled in malted water.  I'm pretty sure 
> they were..it seems like a
> period thing to do... but I was hoping for clarification.
Are you asking if they were boiled in "malted" water? That is with an 
M? I'd like hear why you think of that as a period thing to do. What 
else was boiled in malted water?

I toured one of the pretzel companies in Pennsylvania several years 
ago. I think they claimed to have started in the 17th century with 
recipes brought over from the Old World. I seem to remember them 
talking about boiling the pretzels in something. I thought lye but I'm 
not sure now. I think I would have remembered if it was malted water, 
since I would have asked what that was more precisely. That is water 
that malted grain has been soaked in? I seem to remember them talking 
about two different processes depending upon whether you were making 
hard or soft pretzels.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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