[Sca-cooks] Not bagels, pretzels
David Friedman
ddfr at daviddfriedman.com
Thu May 3 10:38:29 PDT 2007
>Brazzatelle di latte, e zuccaro
>
>sounds like a sweet, not savory
>
>is there a recipe you would be willing to share??
Pretzels of Milk and Sugar
from Messibugio, Libro Novo 1557
To make fifty pretzels of four ounces each you
will take fifteen lbs of best flour, three ounces
of rose water, three pounds of milk, two pounds
of white sugar, 25 eggs, four ounces of butter,
and you will knead these things together very
well.
Then you will make your pretzels according to the
method you want to use, and then you will let
rise with careful attention, and after it has
risen you will boil your water, and then you will
place inside the above-mentioned pretzels to
cook, and when they come to the top you will take
out, and then you will put in fresh water, and
when you have removed them from within you will
put them to cook in the oven, and if you want to
put inside anise it is a good deed.
(1/3 of the original recipe)
5 lb flour--about 16c
4/3 oz rose water
1 lb milk--about 2 c
2/3 lb sugar=4/3 c
8 eggs
16/9 oz butter
(2 c sourdough)
Aniseeds
Combine flour and sugar; cut in the (softened)
butter. Combine the liquid ingredients, including
the sourdough, mix, add to the dry ingredients
and knead until you have a smooth dough. Cover
with a damp towel, let rise at least twelve
hours. Then divide into eighteen equal portions,
roll each into a cylinder about 18 inches long,
make into a pretzel shape. (If you are
interpreting them as bagels, make each into a
cylinder about 9-10" long, join the ends to form
a bagel shape). Leave it until it has risen
again, which should be another five hours or so
at room temperature (i.e. 70° F). Your rising
times may differ from this, depending on your
sourdough culture.
When they have risen, fill a pot at least five
inches deep with water, if possible more. Bring
the water to a boil. Put in as many of the
pretzels as you can manage without too much of a
problem of sticking. Boil until they rise to the
top, which should start happening in three or
four minutes. Make sure they have not stuck to
the bottom; if they have loosen with a spatula
(pancake turner). When each floats to the top
take it out, dunk it briefly in a bowl of water,
drain, put on a cookie sheet or the like. Bake
them in a 400° oven until brown--about 20 minutes.
For half of them, I kneaded in 1 1/2 t of aniseed.
Note 1: The Italian title is Brazzatelle di
latte, e zuccaro; the technique of boiling and
then baking could be for either bagels or
pretzels. The translator thought they were bagels
and I did them that way the first time, but since
our word "pretzel" derives from old high German
"brezitella," I think it's reasonably certain
that they are actually pretzels and have modified
the translation above accordingly.
Note 2: The recipes says it produces fifty
pretzels weighing four ounces each, but uses
about 18-20 lbs of ingredients, after allowing
for cooking off the water in the milk. I
concluded that it was using a 12 ounce pound,
like the troy pound or the Islamic ratl, rather
than a 16 ounce pound. The first time I did the
recipe (interpreting the pretzels as bagels!)
they weighed about 7 avoirdoupois ounces, which
is still a little heavy; on my assumption it
should have been 5 1/3 ounces.
Note 3: The recipe is for a leavened bread, but
no leavening is mentioned. My guess is that it is
using either sourdough or a kneading trough with
its own yeast culture. I used sourdough.
--
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com
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