%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 2025: German classics and International Yums |
 Maybe a little Disclaimer for someone who's just stumbled over this collection and already found some (savory) things to try out and maybe make her nutrition a bit yummier  : 👀intu the Darkness   . After what I've shared with you, you'll probably think now I'm a Bloody Liar, BUT: I'm also only just a Human Being with a BIIIIG sweet tooth. Peace?   Anyway!  As small as it is – about 3x the size of NYC – Luxembourg has LOTS of reasons and traditions to celebrate... as you come to realize when you're living there since 20 years.  One is all about one of my fave sweets around here. Luxembourgish Bretzels are NO vile German lye / leaven pretzel... they are darn leaven pretzels on speed.  The story of the Luxembourgish Bretzel, as accounted by Luxembourgish Cook, Anne Faber, from whose book Baking with Anne I derived this recipe (which is the cover recipe, BTW  ), goes like this:On Bretzelsonndeg (Pretzel Sunday), the Third Sunday of Lent, a man shall offer their beloved a sweet pretzel. When she accepts it, she gives him a chocolate egg for Easter in return. If she refuses the gift, he literally "gets the basket" (= gets dumped  ). (Funny, in Leap Years it reverses ).THANK GOD, the Bretzel is SO popular by now that – different to my other great love, cinnamon rolls, which you only get from fall till Christmas – you get it year-round. Huzzah!  Of course, the tradition and story is sweet, and so appealing to Hopeless Romantic Me  , BUT: me actually making the Bretzels had a rather practical reason. (Hey! I'm German after all.)On the day before I did them, I've defrosted and cleaned my fridge. During these hours, the fresh yeast that had patiently waited in the freezing compartment had, of course, defrosted too.  Since the use-by date had way expired (therefore I'd frozen it in the first place), and since you shouldn't refreeze once thawed-up yeast, I decided to live up to the challenge, instead. After all, I wanted to see if I can do it (obviously I can, otherwise not this entry ) and if I can produce something that looks like a pretzel in the first place (Yep!) However, dudes, you shall have some time at your hands as this is NO hasty in-between dish. This, my friends, is a bloody QUEEN with ALL the galore.  BUT: if you live up to the challenge, and give it to your loved one(s) – who will hopefully accept it since, if not, they're (an) ungrateful poop(s)  – you do a really yummy act of love to them. I got you despite the prospect of work? Great! Then off to the kitchen! Serves: 2 bretzels Each about 680 gr / 1.5 lb. Prep Time: +/– 5 hrs Yup, making pretzels is a labor of love Degree of Difficulty: Easy => Intermediate WE NEED DOUGH 80 gr / 3 oz. butter 25 gr / 1 oz. live yeast 250 ml / 8.5 US fl.oz. milk Full-fat, as in fat-reduced "foods" fat is substituted by sugar  500 gr / 1 lb. 2 oz. flour 40 gr / 1.5 oz. sugar That must be contained because the yeast needs it as "food" to work 3/4 tsp salt 1 egg FILLING 160 gr / 5.75 oz. ground almonds 60 gr / 2 oz. brown sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon CEYLON, as CASSIA contains too much coumarin which at frequent use damages the liver 1 pinch salt 1 egg 4 tbsp apricot jam I don't like it, and so didn't want it to clutter my fridge beyond this recipe. I used the handmade raspberry gelee my friend, Marina, made from produce in her garden, instead. It made the bretzel taste even better, IMHO.  ICING apricot (/ raspberry) jam (/ gelee) 70 gr / 2.5 oz. icing sugar 1 tbsp milk Really – NOT more! It's just the right amount. 40 gr / 1.5 oz. flaked almonds WE DO 1. Melt the butter – best in a bain marie; more later! – and let it cool off. Heat the milk luke-warm – = 27°C / 80°F, as higher temps kill the yeast Now, crumble the yeast into the milk and stir to dissolve.2. In a large – REALLY large – more later! – bowl, mix flour, sugar + salt. Add butter, yeast-milk + egg and knead for 5 minutes. Otherwise, you knead the dough to death. You can do this the "easy" way – = Kitchen Aid – or the "hard way" – start with kneading attachments of a hand mixer and continue with your actual hands. Kein Sch..., you get a literal feeling when it's done. Can a machine claim that? Anyway, you want the dough soft + SLIGHTLY sticky. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and give it a break for 30 minutes. After these, you may experience the FIRST surprise. And yeah, that's normal, and therefore NOT extensive kneading beforehand 3. While the dough rests, line two baking sheets with baking paper and make the filling: put almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon + salt in a bowl. Separate the egg and ONLY add the egg WHITE to the mix, and last the (apricot) jam. Whisk everything together. Add water tsp-wise, if it's too dry as it can get too wet VERY quickly. You want something easy to spread, not fruity dust choking you. 4. Flour a spacious work surface and drop the (also VERY space-filling ) dough onto it. Roll it out to a rectangle of 28 x 12 in, and cut it into four strips. Spread the filling over two strips and top them with the other ones.  Carefully, twist each piece of pastry so it looks like a curly straw, then twist it into pretzel shape and put each onto a baking sheet. Then cover each with a dish towel and give it a break for another 30 minutes. That pretzel-twisting is BLOODY tricky: it took me three attempts – and GENTLE thinning out / lengthening to NOT tear it, until it worked. Delicate Sh–    5. While the SECOND "surprise" (literally!) "builds", we whisk together egg YOLK with 1 tbsp milk and preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. When I came into the kitchen for fetching something to drink shortly before the end of the "second" 30 minutes, I noted that the dish towels looked suspiciously mountain-ey ... and realized why only one pretzel per baking sheet. 6. After the 30 minutes, brush each pretzel with the egg wash. 7. Bake them for 25 minutes OR until golden-brown. (Hoppla. ) Near the END of baking time, watch them so you don't have your "hoppla"-moment... which can happen quickly as every oven is different which makes it take longer / shorter 8. As soon as the pretzels come out of the oven, brush them with (apricot) jam. Remember the bain marie from 1.? => Wash out the vessel, put in 2+ tbsps jam, and warm it as DELICATELY as the yeast in the milk before You want the jam JUST as softened that you can conveniently brush it. With the first pretzel I did the "moron approach" => smack the jam onto the pretzel and then brushed. Nope => SAUEREI! Then transfer the pretzels on wire racks to cool completely. About 1.5–2 hrs, in my case. 9. Once they're cool, mix icing sugar + milk until they're a thick icing. Toast the almond flakes in a frying pan until golden. Drizzle / Brush each pretzel with icing and sprinkle with almond flakes. Let set for 2+ hrs so the icing can firm up. Some parting words to consider: Bretzels – any, btw. – are BEST the day they're baked. They grow stale quicker than a thimble of Kölsch, kein Sch... And who wants to eat stale bretzels!? Since these babies rise about 3x their original "raw" size , at least Europeans eat some time on them. My bretzels turned out to be 700 gr / 1 lb. 9 oz. and 600 gr / 1 lb. 5 oz.. I took the bigger one with me to game night with two friends. We ate half of it, and the two divided the rest between them (Claire taking more, as she wanted her husband, Jeannot, to try it, too.) I ate the other – stored / prepped like elaborated below  – for breakfast / before sports the following 2 days:Finish baking one bretzel, and – if it applies – leave the other to prove on its baking sheet in the fridge overnight under a damp dish towel and prep it, starting at 5. of the recipe the next morning/day. OR: bake both bretzels, but chop one to pieces you can conveniently store in ziplock bags and put it in the freezer, ready to heat up in the microwave when needed. But, honestly, which barbarian does THAT to a labor of LOVE!? And now... Guten Hunger! |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
