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Flour Mixtures Continued: Cake: Beat
TEA PRETZELS Beat one-third a cup of butter to a cream; gradually beat in one-fourth a cup of sugar, then one egg, beaten without separating the white and yolk, and one cup and a half of pastry flour. Cover the dough and let it remain in a cool place for one hour. Break off small pieces of the dough, knead to a smooth mass, then roll under the hands to the shape of a bread stick, about as thick as a round lead pencil; bring the ends towards the middle of the dough, pressing them onto it about an inch apart, forming two rings, then set on a baking tin, one ring overlapping the other. Brush with a beaten egg, diluted with a little milk, and press blanched-and-sliced almonds onto the dough. Bake in a moderate oven.
A short, sweet butter dough shaped like a pretzel and finished with egg wash and almonds — closer to a shortbread biscuit than to bread. The original gives no baking time, temperature in degrees, or yield, so those are the gaps to fill.
- Moderate ovenRead that as 350F. At this size the pretzels need roughly 12 to 15 minutes, until the egg wash is glossy and the edges are pale gold; they colour quickly at the thin crossed ends.
- No leavening, no saltThe dough as written contains neither, so it stays dense and crisp rather than puffing. A pinch of salt in the butter is a reasonable addition; baking powder is not.
- Butter measureOne-third cup is 5 tablespoons plus a teaspoon, about 75 g. Have it soft enough to cream but not oily, or the dough will slump when you roll it.
- Pastry flourPastry flour runs about 8-9 percent protein. All-purpose works, but substitute a scant cup and a half and handle the dough as little as possible once the flour is in, or the sticks toughen and resist rolling.
- The hour in a cool placeThis is the hinge. Chilled dough rolls into an even pencil-thick rope without cracking or sticking; warm dough tears and the shaped rings spread in the oven. Refrigerate the covered dough, and chill the shaped pretzels again briefly if the kitchen is warm.
- ShapingRoll each piece under the hands to a rope about as thick as a round pencil. Bring the ends toward the middle and press them onto the dough about an inch apart, forming two rings, then set on the tin with one ring overlapping the other -- press the joins firmly, as that is where they break.
- Egg wash and almondsOne egg beaten with a tablespoon of milk is ample for the whole batch. Press the sliced almonds on straight after brushing; once the wash starts to dry they fall off during baking.
- YieldThe original gives no yield; it depends entirely on how long you roll each rope. They keep in a tin and crisp up again with a few minutes in a low oven.
Cooking for Two belongs to the wave of early twentieth-century American books written for small households — young couples, boarding-house cooks, and anyone who found standard receipts scaled for eight impractical. Tea pretzels are the sweet, domestic cousin of the German Brezel: the knotted shape is generally traced to medieval European baking, where it was a bakers' guild emblem long before it was a snack, and German and Austrian bakers are often said to have made butter-rich, almond-topped versions eaten with coffee rather than beer. American cookbooks of this period are commonly thought to have absorbed a great many such items through German immigrant baking, filing them under tea cakes and small cakes for the afternoon table. The recipe's restraint — a quarter cup of sugar to a cup and a half of flour, no spice, no leavening — marks it as a biscuit for accompanying tea, not a confection to be eaten on its own.