Pretiola!

Back when there were more than only 2 manditory fasting days in the Church, ancients would make pretzels because they only contain yeast, water, brown SUGAR and flour.

Monks used to give young children pretzels as a "little reward" or "pretiola!

Yesterday we made Lenten Pretzels.

"We abstain from flesh, meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese and eggs." - Pope St. Gregory

So, here's the recipie I used:

Grease two cookie sheets and sprinkle with salt.

In a large bowl, desolve a packet of yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water.

Add 1/3 Cup of warm water and 1/3 cup of brown sugar.

Kneed in 4-5 cups of flour until the mizture forms a smooth ball. (You may need to add more water ;-))

Kneed for 10 minutes.

Tiwst as desired.

Heat oven to 450. Fill large skillet with water adding 1 t-spoon of baking soda for each cup of water.

Bring to simmer.

Dip twisted pretzels in skillet for a bout 30 seconds. Transfer to cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8 minutes.

Tada!