Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-28
PRETzeLs MADE BY HAND.
The Only Sort the Epicurean Teuton VIII
neirn to Consume

Deign To Consume.
There Is no use in trying 10 make pretzels
by machine" said Washington baker man
TO a reporter. 1--WE attempted IL, and it's a
dead failure. The Germans won't buy any
but the hand made, which, for some reason
nobody has been ever able 10 make out, are
sweeter and OF better flavor, even when the
dough used Is precisely tho same In both.
Then, again, the ones turned out by hand
have delicate sort OF skin which the ma
chine made lack. A curious thing IL Is, too,
since there Is no difference In material, the
kneading Is the same, and the only variation
In process Is between stamping with steel
dyes and twisting into shape with the hands"
ibid you ever see pretzel madei Then
just look here" continued the baker man,
grabbing as he spoke a small hunk OF ordi-
nary bread dough from n heap on the table
close by He rolled the hunk rapidly over
the board with both hands until IL was a
long, thin, cylindrical strip. Then taking
each end OF the strip between thumb and
forefinger he curled IL with two or three
quick motions into the shape OF a perfect
pretzel The whole process required perhaps
four Seconds hut he was not trying 10 do II
rapidly.
''But a pretzel isn't made OF ordinary
dough" suggested the newspaper man.
ats material Is simply -four and water,
with sir pounds Of lard added for each bar
rel OF -four. The prettel dough is made up
Just like bread dough, and the factory hand
turns the pretzels out one by one In precisely
the way showed you. As fast they are
given shape like this one khave just made,
they are thrown into kettles OF boiling I've,
kept at the temperature necessary by steam
Jackets A moment later they are fished out
....sA lii. ~ If
salt Finally, with what salt adheres TO
them, they are picked up gingerly and laid In
ovens, with the unsalted sides down. When
they are done they are ready for consiImp-
lion, usually with beer No method has thus
tar been discovered OF sailing pretzels other
wise than by hand, so delcately must they
be handled at this stage OF the performance"
"But how are they cut by machineryf
Like ordinary crackers The dough Is
rolled out In thin sheets and laid upon an end
less belt, which carries them along beneath
steel die that cuts out half n dozen or more
pretzel shaped pieces at each hammer like
stroke. The pretzels produced In this way
look exactly like the hand made, and, being
OF the same material, ought 10 be quite as
good, but they are not. The rest OF the pro-
cess has TO be performed by hand anyway.
fancy that the Germans are prejudiced also
against machine made pretzels because they
regard them as against honest manual labor.
Anyway they sell for 8 cents a pound less In
the market than the hand made ones bring
Pennsylvania Is the great pretzel making state.
IL is AN enormous industry IN Scranton,
Philadelphia, especially In Pottstown, and all
through the coal mining regions, which are
thickly settled with Germans. The people
employed in manufacturing them are ALI of
that race and, In fact, wherever you find
pretzsls 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 "-Washington Star