Pretzels - In Celebration of Oktoberfest
- stacn003
- Nov 9, 2020
- 2 min read
German people, and celebrators of German culture, last month celebrated Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest is traditionally a 16 to 18 day festival originating in Munich, Germany, which involves parades, music, food and beer.
To mark this occasion, today we’ll be looking at the history of an ever-popular German form of bread – the Pretzel.
Whether it’s a hearty traditionally made German pretzel, or a mass-produced New-York soft pretzel that you bought on a footpath, these have been a subject of fascination for a very long time.
A legend has it that the first pretzel was made by an Italian monk in the year 610 AD, as a reward to children for saying their prayers.
The crossed-over pattern they have is meant to resemble a child’s arms crossed in prayer.
Though this legend may not be the true origin of the pretzel, experts have come to the consensus that its roots lie with Christianity.
They were also very useful for bakers to display, as due to the large rings created by the crosses, they were, and still are, able to be hung from poles and used as a centerpiece.
Pretzels come in many different variations depending on the part of Germany they originate from.
While yes, they generally all hold the same crossed-over shape, different baking methods and processes tend to be used, and the pretzels are served with varying toppings and condiments.
For example, in the south German region of Bavaria, Pretzels made from lye dough accompany a main meal.
In South Australia, the Brezel Bakehouse in Mount Barker (Brezel being the German word for Pretzel) produces more than 2400 pretzels every week.
An article for Broadsheet describes how the Bakehouse began as a single-oven stall in the 1980s, and is now a “pretzel powerhouse”, run by Kerstin Hoeflinger and her mother.
In addition to pretzels, the article states that Brezel Bakehouse also produces loaves, laugenbroetchen (pretzel rolls) and Danish pastries.
Adelaide also offers the Americanized version of this traditional German Bread – the soft pretzel – which is characterised by their fluffier interior and thin crust.
Pretzel Mania at Westfield Marion sells these kinds of pretzels in a variety of different sweet and savoury flavours.
Another variant of the pretzel was created again in the US, when a baker named Julius Sturgis noticed in 1861, that his pretzels would quickly go stale after distribution.
He counteracted this by adding less water and creating the cracker-like snack pretzels which can still be bought in supermarkets.
Pretzels have really experienced quite a narrative arc throughout their presence in culinary history, and in their many forms, are still enjoyed by the masses today.
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