[Sca-cooks] Pretzels, was Lent is coming!

[Johnna Holloway]

According to http://germanfood.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=germanfood&cdn=food&tm=21&f=10&su=p284.13.342.ip_p830.9.342.ip_&tt=29&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.petermangold.de/schwaebische_brezeln.htm
the lye solution is 19th century in origin.

The Oxford Companion to Food in the entry on pretzels states "This  
must be the foodstuff that has gathered more culinary mythology about  
its origins than any, from praying hands in a 7th century Italian  
monastery, to a Frankish king in Alsace, to rewards for children  
learning their catechism, all of it highly debatable."

Johnnae

On Feb 19, 2012, at 8:02 PM, Sharon Palmer wrote:

>> I believe modern pretzels, at least the ones in the King Arthur  
>> flour book, are boiled and then baked, as are bagels--in fact, the  
>> book treats them as variants of the same recipe. But I think those  
>> are soft pretzels and don't know how the crunchy kind are made.
>
> Properly, pretzels are dipped in lye.. that's what gives them the  
> deep color.  I'm not sure what evidence there is for that in period.  
> Rumpolt uses lye for other recipes, but not baked goods. Modern home  
> recipes for pretzels sometimes substitute baking soda.
> Ranvaig