Fun weekend

 Sharon and I had the opportunity to go to the high school musical, and I have to say it was fantastic. 

 The talent that we have in this small community never ceases to impress me. The young girl who played the fairy godmother had an amazing voice and range in her singing. 

 I found my sourdough starter getting a little out of control, and I had to make something with it. I decided on a fun treat that I can share with a couple of friends. 

 If you have seen any commercial on television for restaurants, the pretzel roll is the new thing, so I thought I would give pretzels a try. 

 This past year I was a sourdough experiment kind of guy, so this looked easy and quick to make. 

 While I was doing my research on this, I came across the design factor for pretzels and how far we have come with this “little reward.” 

 In 610 A.D., legend has it that an Italian monk served students baked scraps of leftover dough. He rolled and twisted the dough to resemble his students, who folded their arms across their chests when praying. The monk called his bread treats “pretiolas,” Latin for “little rewards.” 

 Soon, the popularity of these treats spread to Austria and Germany, where they became known as bretzels. When the Pennsylvania Dutch immigrated to the United States, they – unsurprisingly – brought their favorite snack with them. 

 The Catholic Church played a leading role in the early history of the pretzel. 

 In the seventh century, the church dictated stricter rules governing fasting and abstinence during Lent than it does today. Pretzels, made of a simple mixture of water, flour and salt, were an ideal food to consume during Lent, when meat, dairy and eggs were prohibited. 

 My friend Nicole gave me a great idea to use the dough to make little sandwiches, so I added some ham, swiss and honey mustard to one and it was great. 

 What a great way to make something homemade on the weekend. I found this recipe at King Arthur flour website. 

Pretzels