Pretzels and Robots

Here I am, ready to queue teams at the World Festival in St. Louis!

April, 2012

FIRST LEGO League World Festival
St. Louis, MO

How, exactly, do pretzels and robots go together? Well- they do for me!

Other than baking and painting, one of my other passions is FIRST LEGO League (FLL) – and I’m the Program Manager for the NorCal Capital District. FLL is a fantastic after-school program designed to get Middle School kids excited about STEM. Teams not only build competitive LEGO robots – they also must come up with an innovative solution and presentation to address a real world problem. Every year the Challenge theme changes, and this year was called Food Factor – and was all about food safety. Teams had to chose a food and research it – finding any possible contamination points – and come up with an innovative solution to solving those possible problems.

Early on in the season, I put the call out to teams to ‘pick pretzels’ ….. as far as I know, no team did – which proves my point that pretzels are the perfect food )

At our local FLL Tournaments, District Championships and World Festival – many volunteers dressed up in food inspired themes to ‘get into the fun’ with the kids! I wore my pretzel apron and pretzel earrings – and got the nickname of ‘The Pretzel Lady’ !

S0 – now you can see, how pretzels and robots can fit together!

FLL World Festival – Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo

The FLL team from Brazil – up at the FLL competition table

Yang Ming Smart Kids – from Taiwan !

The FLL pits – teams from all over the world came to compete with their Food Factor projects and robots!

FIRST also has High School level competitions – this is FTC Antipodes, a Nor Cal team – who went on to win the 1st Place Design Award!

Easter pretzel…. sort of

Every Easter, my Mom created these amazing rabbit-shaped sweet breads.  She’d shove a dyed hard-boiled egg into the rear for the ‘tail’ and bake several to give to family and friends. These yummy bunnies were an integral part of our Easter tradition growing up, and my mother continues to bake these signature breads come spring.

When I started to bake on my own, I wanted to create my own Easter bread shape that didn’t compete with my Mom’s rabbits- and – after several years of trying different ideas, finally came upon one that was a winner. Now, every Spring I make one (or more) of these twisted and shaped breads, and my family definitely looks forward to ‘finding it’  come Easter morning.

Technically, it isn’t a pretzel, though it does have ‘twists’ involved….

Frohe Ostern and Happy Spring !!

Kneading the dough

Forming the ‘eggs’

6 eggs

Rolling out 3 ropes

Braiding the ‘basket’

Finishing the ‘basket’

Forming the ‘basket’ around the ‘eggs’

Sorting candies by color

Making green coconut ‘grass’

Waiting for the bread to bake

Pretzels for Christmas

Putting pretzels into your holidays

As a big pretzel lover, I really wanted to figure out how to get some of these twisted treats into my holiday season. Thanks to an amazing little German pretzel cookie press,  I’ve got my wish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a simple sugar cookie recipe (from my Dr. Oetker cookbook…) – my awesome little German pretzel press worked great!

I brushed the pretzel cookies with egg yolk…

… and sprinkled coarse sugar on top before baking.

The pretzel cookies make a nice addition to my German cookie selection!

Happy Holidays and Happy Pretzel eating!

Oktoberfest – Tahoe style!

It’s October, which means Oktoberfest, and nothing says Oktoberfest like some pretzels! Last weekend, my husband and I were out for a leisurely bike ride along the Truckee River when we spotted a sign.

Always in search of that potentially perfect pretzel, we aimed our bikes uphill and peddled to Squaw Valley!

Squaw Valley, California

The Village at Squaw Valley

As we locked up our bikes near the entrance to the Village, we could hear Oompa music playing and saw dancers in traditional German clothing. We followed the crowds towards the smell of flowing beer and sizzling bratwurst.

After a few breaks along the way, sampling beer and listening to music, we eventually made our way to the pretzel stand. Real Bavarian pretzels, all the way from Munich!
    
They may have been previously frozen and a long way from home … and perhaps by some standards they weren’t exactly perfect…but right then and there, with beautiful surroundings and cheer at hand, they seemed pretty darned close.

Pretzelogy 101

In which I attempt my first batch of lye pretzels…

I ordered some food grade lye online, and dug up an old recipe for pretzels that my Mom gave me (aptly named ‘Oma’s pretzels’). The dough calls for one warm beer, and it rose beautifully out on the deck.

Once risen, I formed part of the dough into pretzel shapes....

and the rest into rolls to make Lauge Wege, a lye roll popular in southwest Germany.

Next, I carefully measured some of the lye into a glass container and added some water (if you do this- you should wear protective gear!!!)...

... and dunked the shaped dough into the lye mixture using tongs. The lye solution made the dough all wrinkly and soft... not an easy task and I really need to figure out a better way to do this!!

After sprinkling with sea salt, and placing on parchment lined cookie sheets, it was time to put them into the oven...

So my pretzel shapes aren't perfect by any means, but they sure smelled good coming out of the oven!

The Lauge Wege looked almost like the ones we got in Germany!

They must have turned out good, since most of them didn't make it past the cooling rack!

The ones that got away.

Conclusion:  Oma’s dough recipe came out perfect  but I definitely have to work on forming better pretzel shapes. Also, I have to come up with an easier (and safer!!) way to dip the dough into the lye solution.

Until next time… I have to go now and eat some pretzels before they all disappear!!!

My Opa, the Baker.

Me and my Opa, the Baker.

My Opa was a baker.

When we were 4 years old, my mother took us to Germany to visit her family. That is the only memory I have of my Opa. He was retired at that point, and I remember us walking through fields around the house. His voice was calm and he seemed so patient – with hands that engulfed my own.

I never saw him again. When I returned to Germany, years later as a young adult, he was long gone.

What I know about my Opa is mostly based on stories my mother told us, about life growing up in a small town bakery. These reflections, and the photos I’ve found, make me feel that I somewhat knew the man – if only just briefly.

From what I know, he was a perfectionist at his craft. He also made perfect pretzels.

Through my journeys with this blog, I hope to return to Germany and find the places where my Opa worked at his craft. Although his legacy of baking continues to flourish professionally within our German family, his baking passion seems to have trickled down just as strongly to those who traveled far from where he lived.

Someday I hope to make a perfect pretzel, like my Opa.

What makes the perfect pretzel?

You say tomato, I say tomahto…

What makes the perfect pretzel for each of us might depend on our own personal experiences with these little knotted gems.
People I know who have been to New York City swear that the street vendors there sell the most amazing pretzels in the world.  Since I’ve never been, I have to take their word for that.  And, although I recently stated that the twisted things sold in our local shopping mall aren’t really pretzels, several of my son’s friends completely disagreed. For them, these ultra squishy pieces of  warm dough sitting behind glass are not only definitely pretzels, they are worth braving the mall.

Up to now, my favorite pretzels were the lye ones found in the bakeries of southwest Germany. These traditional ‘Brezels’ are thin and crunchy in places, and thick and slightly chewy in others. I  love the way the lye coating tickles my tongue when I first bite into one,  and how the acidic burnt flavor offsets the sweetness of the dough and the salt sprinkled on top.

But, are these THE perfect pretzels?  Should pretzels be dark and crispy and served with butter? Or, should they be soft and chewy and smothered with mustard? Is the perfect pretzel a single fixed entity, based on tradition, or is it merely a reflection of the state of our mind when we eat it? Is there in fact such a thing as a perfect pretzel and – if so – how long will it take to find one?

I may have to eat a lot of pretzels to find out.

Darn.

Becoming German

This spring, my twin and I turned 50.

To commemorate this milestone, the two of us did something we’ve talked about for years but never done: become German. Again.
We’re first generation Americans, born to German parents who immigrated to California and obtained their US citizenship back when we were five years old.  Technically, since our father was a German citizen when we were born, we already were considered German citizens, but we needed to complete certain paperwork to make it official.

It took a bit of doing – and a few trips to the San Francisco German Consulate – but we got it done and obtained our German citizenship.

I've got the paperwork approved! (German Consulate- San Francisco)

My brother - in front of the German Consulate in San Francisco

So, what does one do after becoming German?

Searching for the perfect pretzel seems like a good plan.