How Did the Pretzel Get Its Shape? - Uncle Henry's Pretzel Bakery (2024)

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How Did the Pretzel Get Its Shape? - Uncle Henry's Pretzel Bakery? ›

The origins of the pretzel

The Catholic Church claims that a monk in Northern Italy created pretzels by using left-over dough that was originally made for Lent. He created the signature pretzel shape because it was meant to symbolize a child praying with his arms folded across his chest.

Most pretzels have a signature shape that resembles a knot. The pretzel's unique shape is a symmetrical loop created by intertwining the ends of a long strip of dough and then folding them back on each other, forming a “pretzel loop." Legend has it that the pretzel was invented by an Italian monk in the year 610 A.D.

One popular story is that pretzels were invented around 610 A.D. by a baker–monk who wanted to find a use for leftover scraps of dough. He twisted a length of dough and formed the pretzel's iconic shape, which was meant to resemble crossed arms.

While accounts vary, one source claims the first American pretzel was baked in 1861, about 75 miles west of Philadelphia in Lititz, Pennsylvania. As the story goes, sometime around 1850, bread baker Ambrose Roth obtained the recipe from a hobo as a thank-you for a hot meal and some hospitality.

Unlike their American counterpart, Bavarian pretzels pack a denser, chewier inside and a darker, crispier outside. And there's a certain "tang" to the Bavarian-style pretzel that sets it apart from other soft pretzels. But best of all, it doesn't need to be dipped in cheese or drenched in butter to taste delicious!

Over time, the pretzel became a staple and an integral part of Pennsylvania's culture and economy. The state is now known as the pretzel capital of the world, with Pennsylvanians consuming a whopping 12 times more pretzels than the national average.

Here are some fun facts about pretzels:

The pretzel is long considered a good-luck symbol due to its religious roots. Pretzels without salt are called baldies. More than $550 million worth of pretzels are sold in the United States annually. The average American consumes up to two pounds of pretzels in a year.

On the one hand, lye gives pretzels their distinctive flavor, kind of a sharp flatness, if that makes sense. It's what keeps a pretzel from tasting like pretzel-shaped bread.

Lye is primarily used to make pretzels, and it's the reason for their unmistakable shiny, mahogany color. To prepare, shaped pretzels are dipped in a lye bath, then baked in the oven. This method can also be used with rolls or buns.

What is the oldest pretzel company in the United States? ›

About. The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, founded in 1861, is the first commercial pretzel bakery in America; and the Sturgis Family is the oldest pretzel baking family in America.

Why are we so pretzel-obsessed? Like so many of our iconic foods, PA's pretzel mania can be traced back to some of the first European settlers to come here. The German immigrants who settled here in the late-18th and 19th centuries brought with them a long tradition of pretzel-baking (they're called brezels in German).

Philadelphia soft pretzels are distinguished from all others by their shape (a figure-8, not loopy with a thick center and thinner ends), their texture (chewy, not crunchy), and their distribution method (look for them on street corners, not supermarkets). They come lightly salted, or, on request, as “baldies.”

In the 17th century, the pretzel's interlocking loops also came to symbolize undying love. Some couples even grasped the ends of the pretzel and unraveled it during wedding ceremonies — one possible origin of the phrase “tying the knot."

Although the exact invention of pretzels remains a mystery, one popular story says that in 610 A.D. an Italian monk shaped long pieces of leftover dough in the form of children's arms folded across their chests in prayer.

To keep that sacred trinity at heart, 16th-century brewer-monks strung pretzels and wore them around their necks. Pretzel necklaces have come a long way. As far back as Stratton remembers, pretzel necklaces were on the scene at Oktoberfest in Germany.

They believe the pretzel shape represents the holy trinity, the three holes representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Soft pretzels using a simple recipe of only flour, water, and salt were used during Lent when Christians were not permitted to eat eggs, lard, or any dairy products.