New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1954. Shop Pretzilla Soft Pretzel Bites - compare prices, see product info & reviews, add to shopping list, or find in store. Theyre ready in under an hour and are a delicious salty snack. Nashville, TN: Ideals Publications, 1999. These soft pretzels are the perfect salty, buttery pretzels with a soft and fluffy pretzel middle, and chewy pretzel crust. As western Europeans began to discard the food restrictions once associated with Lent, pretzels lost their association with the season and gradually became a year-round snack food. Pretzels continued to be widely identified with Lent until the nineteenth century. In Austria children sometimes dangled them from the ends of palm branches on Palm Sunday. The Poles enjoyed these crunchy snacks with a dish of beer soup. Requiring only 6 ingredients, this dough is extremely easy to put together and perfect for yeast beginners. Central Europeans often washed down their pretzels with beer. These irresistible soft pretzel bites are warm, buttery soft, and chewy.
As an act of Lenten charity pretzels were sometimes distributed free to poorer folk. Number of bites: 31 or more Microwave: 2 minutes Oven: 4-5 minutes or until hot. In past times Ash Wednesday witnessed the arrival of the pretzel vendor on the streets of Germany, Austria, and Poland. Stir until well combined, and let mixture sit until it becomes foamy on top (about 5 minutes). English speakers in turn translated the German word as "pretzel." By the Middle Ages pretzels had become a popular Lenten food in many parts of Europe. Combine warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Later, the Germans transformed this word into brezel or prezel.
The Romans called these treats bracellae, meaning "little arms" in Latin. The bow-shaped pretzel, still common today, represents the crossed arms of a person in prayer. In those days many Christians prayed by crossing their arms in front of them and placing the fingertips of each hand on the shoulders of the opposing arms. Second, by virtue of their shape, they symbolized the proper activity of an observant Christian during Lent: prayer.
Watch the video in the recipe card at the end of this post to see how to make soft pretzel bites March 4th is National Snack Day Technically, snacks are a small portion of food that is eaten between meals. First, because pretzel dough contains only flour, salt, and water, these bread snacks fulfilled the strict requirements of the Lenten fast. Soft Pretzel Bites are delicious, buttery pretzels in snack size bites baked and served with easy-to-make gooey cheddar cheese sauce. Observant Christians in the Roman Empire considered pretzels a suitable Lenten food for two reasons.
The earliest known image of a pretzel comes from a fifth-century manuscript housed in the Vatican. Nevertheless, for centuries the pretzel qualified as an acceptable food during the forty-day fast that precedes Easter ( see also Lent). Nowadays people don't think of the common, everyday pretzel as an Easter season food.