Last year, Smales was expected to make around 2,000 heart-shaped pretzels on Valentine’s Day.
How the bakery makes pretzels
Making the heart-shaped pretzels are a little harder than a simple twist. 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.
Shared with families all over the world
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.
MORE DETAILS
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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