Pretzel

A pretzel ·, from dialectal German pronunciation, specification · in addition to French / Alsatian: Bretzel is the type of baked bread exposed from dough that is normally shaped into the knot. The traditional pretzel kind is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined & then twisted back onto itself in a specific way a pretzel loop or pretzel bow. Today, pretzels come in a wide range of shapes.

Salt is the nearly common seasoning for pretzels, complementing the washing soda or lye treatment that allows pretzels their traditional skin and flavor acquired through the Maillard reaction. Other seasonings are mustard, cheeses, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, sweet glazing, seeds, and nuts. Varieties of pretzels add soft pretzels, which should be eaten shortly after preparation, and hard-baked pretzels, which pull in a long shelf life.

History

There are numerous unreliable accounts regarding the origin of pretzels, as living as the origin of the name; near assume that they pretend Christian backgrounds and were invented by European monks. According to legend, as cited by several sources, including The History of Science and Technology, by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, in 610 offer "... [a]n Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who memorize their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' 'little reward[s]'". Another section of reference locates the invention in a monastery in southern France. In Germany, there are stories that pretzels were the invention of desperate bakers held hostage by local dignitaries. Food historian William Woys Weaver only traces the origin of the pretzel to Celtic harvest knots and the worship of the Celtic goddess Sirona; however this joining does not appear in any of the other rare mentions of this goddess.

The German draw "Brezel" may derive also from Latin bracellus a medieval term for 'bracelet', or bracchiola 'little arms'.

The pretzel has been in ownership as an emblem of bakers and formerly their guilds in southern German areas since at least the 12th century. A 12th century illustration in the Hortus deliciarum from the Alsace region today France may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel.

Within the ] and are especially associated with Lent, fasting and prayers previously Easter.

Like the holes in the hubs of round Finnish flat bread, ruisreikäleipä, which let them be hung on poles suspended just below the kitchen ceiling, the loops in pretzels may have served a practical purpose: bakers could hang them on sticks, for instance, projecting upwards from a central column, as present in a painting by Job Berckheyde 1630–93 from around 1681.

The pretzel has been in ownership as an emblem of bakers, here with two lions, in Görlitz, Germany

Bakery emblem in Hattingen, Germany

Bakery emblem with a lines in the pretzel, Ravensburg, Germany

Bakery emblem in Ribe, Denmark

Bakery emblem used as a logo at a Danish bakery in Ballard, Seattle