As expected, life has been a bit chaotic here this afternoon as I cared for my two Godsons; of course the morning was even wilder!Ashes to Hope, although full of small glitches, did, by God’s grace come together, in a delightfully, unstructured, “St. Stephen’s” manner! As I manfully swam against the flow, clutching my running order, the glorious “dis-order” swirled around me. I’m sure the Lord was finding my discomfort quite amusing, as He reminded me that I chose this community, because, (and I quote myself) it was “totally different” from the church which was home throughout my life until 3 years ago, so I could hardly expect today to bear the slightest resemblance to former realities!
But it was good, and fresh, and “real”. Making ashes, (from Palm branches) in a wok with the People’s Warden and forming pretzels around the kitchen island with a diverse group of helpers.
Bashing the ends of branches, dipping our fingers in the ashes and making the sign of the cross on our foreheads, Watching our Pastor, and three others, present the Liturgical Dance offering of the Lord’s Prayer, hearing the reading of a contemporary Ash Wednesday Sonnet, from a lovely book, recently given to me by a kind friend all of these elements blended together in an unorthodox outpouring of worship. The painted tulip panel, I was warned, is “not what you expected”, was anything this morning? Well, it was an offering to the Lord. Imperfect, just like all of us, but good.Several people asked for the soft pretzel recipe, so here it is.
Soft Pretzels
- 2 tsps. Sugar
- 2 Tbsps. yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 tsps. plus 2 Tbsps. coarse sea salt
- 5 cups unbleached flour
- 2 Tbsps. liquid honey or agave syrup
- cornmeal
Place warm water in a large bowl and dissolve yeast and sugar in it, until foamy. Beat in 2 ½ cups flour and 2 tsps. Salt. Beat in the rest of the flour, mixing the last cup in by hand. Turn out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour if necessary. Place in a clean, dry bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile divide dough into 15 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a “snake”, about 15” long. Cross the ends over each other and flip over, forming the pretzel shape (arms folded in prayer). Stir 2 Tbsps. honey or agave syrup into the simmering water. Using a flat, slotted spatula, place 3 or 4 pretzels in the water and scoop out as soon as they float to the surface, placing them on a cornmeal coated cookie sheet. Sprinkle each pretzel with coarse salt.
Bake in a preheated 400F. oven for 20mins, rotating the trays after 10mins.
Makes 15 pretzels. These freeze well too, if there are any left over!