An Amish Snack
The readers of this blog voted for Amish Chicken and Corn soup for the recipe to be included in An Amish Gathering. I promised when I announced the winner of that contest that I would include the recipe for Amish homemade pretzels, which received the second highest vote.
I tested this recipe given to me by an Amish friend and ate entirely too many pretzels. There are several ways to serve these. You can make them traditional, with just a sprinkling of kosher salt OR you can roll them in sesame or poppy seeds or garlic or onion powder before baking for a savory version. If you have a sweet tooth, try rolling the pretzels in cinnamon sugar after baking. I've even seen the pretzels frosted and with candy sprinkles on top.
Amish Pretzels
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 1/4 warm water (make sure it's warm, not hot)
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour (no need for special flour some recipes call for)
3/4 cup plus two tablespoons powdered sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups baking soda
4 cups warm (not hot) water
Non-stick baking spray
1/4 cup melted butter
Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl and let sit for a few minutes. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil. Stir until blended, then form dough into a ball. Knead dough on floured board for five or six minutes. Using a paper towel and some vegetable oil, coat the inside of a big bowl with oil and place dough in it. Cover, set in a warm (not hot) place to rise for about 45 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine baking soda with the four cups of warm water and stir. Put dough on clean kitchen counter (don't use any flour) and cut into 8 portions. Roll each until it's about 3 feet long. Pick up each end of the dough and twist in pretzel shape, flipping around so the middle is wrapped twice. Dip pretzels in the warm baking soda and water mixture and blot any excess moisture before placing on two baking sheets sprayed lightly with non-stick baking spray. Now is the time to sprinkle with kosher salt or with the seeds or flavored onion or garlic powder. If you're planing on having sweet pretzels you should not add salt before baking.
Bake pretzels for approximately 6 to 8 minutes -- every oven is different so the first time you bake these you're going to have to watch them to figure out how long it takes to get them the golden brown color you like. If it looks like they're browning unevenly, you may need to turn the pans around. Remove when the pretzels are a nice golden color and cool. Top with a little melted butter and eat immediately.
If you want the sweet kind, you can use the pre-mixed cinnamon sugar or combine 2 teaspoons with 1/2 cup sugar. Spread melted butter on the pretzels, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over them and enjoy!
For some extra fun, get your kids or grandkids to help you form the dough into stick shapes or alphabet letters before baking.
Categories: An Amish Gathering, Amish recipes
Tags: snacks Amish recipes
Sounds so good! Have a question, though. Your second ingredient, it's 1 1/4 what--teaspoon, tablespoon...what? Thx for posting this, though! Will be fun to try! Hugs...
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How exciting is this - the very recipe that I voted for! I will be making these tomorrow afternoon - have to go out and buy the yeast.
Thank you so much for the recipe - I enjoy receiving these "Amish Heart" emails.
Am anxiously awaiting your new book, "An Amish Gathering".
God bless you!
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Barbara, thanks for sharing the Amish pretzel recipe. I don't know if I'm brave enough to try it, as I don't have much luck with yeast recipes; but I'm saving it just in case. Since my husband's heritage is Czech, his Mom made great kolatches, apple streudel, etc., but I never could seem to get the knack for it. Perhaps it was because my heritage, although it included Czech on my Dad's side, also had German and French from my Mom's side, and my Mom never made the Czech dishes. The pretzels do sound yummy, so I just may have to give them a try. Thanks for sharing!
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Cathey,
I love a good pretzel! Don't be afraid of yeast. You can pretty much tell right away if it's okay and if it's not, throw the yeast mixture out and start again. Years ago, when I first tried making bread, I had a few missed tries but now I feel I can make it in my sleep.
Oh, my, your mention of kolatches and streudel brought back great childhood memories. When I was a little girl, I would go next door to visit my neighbors who were German. They owned a bakery and they fed me German and Polish goodies. My mom is Swedish and she loves German food. She calls pretzels "bretzels" --which is the Pennsylvania Dutch term for them. I looked at a great site about these pretzels (bretzels) and discovered that historians think the pretzel was brought here by the people who would settle in Pennsylvania and be called "Pennsylvania Dutch" (look at the great website www.ushistory.org )
Enjoy the recipe and thanks for reading our blog!
Hugs,
Barbara
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Oh my GOSH! I can't believe I made that mistake. Well, yes I can. I was up late writing and suddenly remembered I hadn't posted the recipe. No matter how many times I looked over it, I still made a mistake! Thanks for catching this!
HEY, EVERYONE: the second ingredient is
1 1/4 cups warm water.
Try them. They're really good!
Thanks again, Cathy!
Barbara
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Linda,
I hope you do try them. They're not as hard to make as I thought -- especially if you add the right amount of water for the yeast that I left out in the recipe!
Thank you so much for the kind words about AmishHearts. I know that the four of us are having so much fun being here with all of you!
Hugs,
Barbara
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WOW ! I can't wait to hear from all of you on how it goes... I too am a little afraid of yeast... Please anyone who tries it let us know how it goes.
Barbara have you made this one yet???
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Hi Erin,
Yes, I made them and ate way too many!
We need to remember that women have been making bread, etc., for many, many years. All we can do is mess up and learn from it and try again!
These are very yummy.
Hugs,
Barbara
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Hi, I'm really not to keen on pretzels, But, I might just try making this recipe. Having made Bread and other things B/4 I read about the mistake, we are all entittled to make them. I would have put in ONE CUP of the water, B/C that's how much you use, all the other ingredients, except the flour would just be teaspoon or tablespoon---
Thank you for the recipe, I enjoy theose and also your blogs.
Rose
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Hi Rose,
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where there is a lot of German food. I remember my mom buying me a warm pretzel from a stand on the street downtown. So it's a treat I love.
Try the recipe and let me know if you think the water needs to be adjusted. It worked fine for me. But I have had to stand right there at the oven with the pretzels because they brown quickly.
Thanks for reading our blog!!
Hugs,
Barbara
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