The first pretzel was made around 610 A.D, somewhere in France or Italy.

A young monk was preparing unleavened bread for Lent. Unleavened bread is a simple bread made of only flour and water. He was making it because the other things that usually go in bread, like eggs, butter and milk, could not be eaten during Lent in those days.

Christians at that time would pray with their arms folded across their chests, each hand on the opposite shoulder.

The monk thought, "Hmmm... What if I twist the leftover dough from the bread into the same shape as we pray. I could give it as a treat for children that learned their prayers. I could call it a 'pretiola', which in Latin means 'little reward'. "

So the monk twisted the left over dough into pretzels as treats and the children loved it! And that is the beginning of the pretzel.

Now for the recipe:

Pretzel Recipe

1 Tb honey or sugar
1 package yeast
1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
4 Cups flour
1 egg, beaten (This ingredient was not in the original pretzel I guesss!)
Course or kosher salt

Add honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add salt, blend in the flower and knead the bread until smooth. Cut dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. You can make large or small pretzels, but to cook at the same rate, they need to be one size.

Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with course salt.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes util pretzels are golden brown.

Credit for story and recipe to: www.geocities.com/joelle109/Lenten_Pretzels.html
(Story simplified for children by Miss Sabrina)