Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-12-31
pRErzELs MADE ey HAND
"s ""iy Sort the Epicurean cerm.. ur,,
- Deisn 10 Consume.

wraa =.
'S sort the Epicuresn Germaa WIN
.sr, Deign To Consume.
mere is no use In TRYING IN
prezels by machine, - said 4 wat, So
AI man TO reporter. 1--WE A.
S.npteo IT, and it's dead failure. Tba
aornnans won't buy any but the hand
hane' which, for some reason poI,e.d :,
nas peen ever able TO make ont 80
s"eeIef and OF better favor. even rhen
me dough used is precisciv the sams
IN Doth. Then, again, the ones tu,,ed
~ y nand have delicious sort OF ski
mnicn the machine-made lack. A curl
as ming 1t Is, too, since there n no
u Z. In material, the kneadine d.
.ne same, and the only variation n n,o-
.ess ID between stamping with steel
yves ana twisting into shape with the
Did you ever see a prefze, mad,
lnsn Just look here" continued the
baker man, grabbing as he spoke =
small hunk Of ordinary bread dough
.lvm q neap on the table close by. ia
rolied the hunk rapidly over the bar
WIN both hands until 1t was a 1one,
MIN cylindrical strip. Then takin"
each end OF the strip between a thnm6
ana iorehnger he curled 1T with two or
Inree quick motions into the shape Of !
perfect pretzel. The whole process re-
CURED perhaps four seconds, but he was
not trying to do 1t rapidly.
But pretzel isn't made Of erdfnarv
dough- suggested the newspaper man.
It's material is simply -four and watey
WIN SIX pounds Of lard added for each
barrel OF flour. The pretael dough 4
maze up just like bread dough, and tho
factory hand turns the pretzels out one
Dy one In precisely the way / showed
you. AS fast as they are given shane.
iKe this one have Just made, they Are
thrown into kettles Of boiling I've. kent
81 the temperature necessary by steam
jackets. A moment later they are fished
OUT with skimmers and thrown upon a
ped OF salt Finally, with what salt
adheres to them they are picked up gin
gerry and laid in ovens with che unsalt-
cd sides down When they are done
they are ready for consumption, USUALLY
with beer. No method has thus tar
been discovered of sailing pretzels 9TH
erwise than by hand, so delicately must
they be handled at this stage of the per-
Torrance"
But how are they cut out by ma
chinery?''
Like ordinary crackers. The douph
Is rolled cut in thin sheets and laid
upon an endless belt, which carries
them along beneath a steel die that
cuts out half dozen or more pretzel-
shaped pieces at each hammer-like
stroke. The pretzels produced in this
way look exactly like the handmade,
and, being OF the same material, ought
TO be quite as good, but they are not.
The rest Of the process has to be per
formed by hand anyway. 1 fancy that
the Germans are prejudiced also against
machine-made pretzels because they re-
gard them as against manual labor.
Anyway they sell for three cents a
pound less in the market than the
handmade ones bring. Pennsylvania
is the great pretzel-making State. 1t is
an enormous industry in Scranton,
Philadelphia, especially in Pottstown,
and all through the coal-mining re-
gions, which are thickly settled with
Germans. The people employed in
manufacturing them are all of that
race, and in fact wherever you find
pretzels in the world the German is
found also. To the Teuton they are, in
conjunction with beer, what ambrosia
was to the gods, with nectar on the side. "
-Washinptnn Bar