@natalie_reports Nothing better than a warm, soft pretzel from Smales Pretzel Bakery in Dayton, Ohio #fyp #daytonohio #pretzel #softpretzel #valentinesday #behindthescenes #ohiobakery #ohiomade #smales ♬ original sound - Natalie_Reports
Smales expects to make around 2,000 pretzels today, Feb. 14. She admitted making the hearts are a little harder than a simple twist. I joined in on the fun this morning and will agree making the heart-shaped pretzels isn’t as easy as it looks.
To make a soft pretzel, it starts with flour, water and yeast that’s mixed together for 20 to 30 minutes.
“We do use more yeast than I think people would assume because we do a quick rise,” Smales said. “They’re not sitting there for hours waiting for them to rise. It only takes about 10 minutes.”
The dough is put into a machine that pushes it out into a “noodle” and then it’s hand-twisted into a pretzel.
The pretzels sit on a rack for a few minutes before they are boiled in food grade lye (caustic soda), which makes them shiny and taste good. After that, the pretzels go into a 1960s oven that turns in a circle. After eight minutes, out pops a warm pretzel.
Rebecca Schinaman of Tipp City was picking up a pre-order of 15 pretzels on Wednesday morning. She said her family gets Smales pretzels on occasion and couldn’t resist getting the heart-shaped pretzels for Valentine’s Day.
Smales pretzels have been shared all over the world from Washington to Afghanistan.
“We love being a part of people’s history and that’s why we want to be here another 100 years,” Smales said.
Smales Pretzel Bakery, located at 210 Xenia Ave., is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit www.smalespretzels.com or the bakery’s Instagram or Facebook pages (@SmalesPretzelBakery).
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