What's Cooking On 1060: Classic Philly Pretzel
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In this week's edition of What's Cooking in 1060, KYW's Hadas Kuznits visited The Philly Pretzel Factory on West Passyunk Avenue to learn how this city's classic snack is made.
Store co-owner and general manager Josh Sklaroff says pretzel making starts around 3 a.m.
"We're here as early as most bakeries. Most bakeries start in the wee hours of the night."
And they make pretzels in huge batches.
"This is our large mixing bowl. This is where we're going to put our flour, yeast and water and we're gonna make our pretzel dough."
Kuznits: "How big is this mixing bowl?"
"This is a 200 pound mixing bowl."
Kuznits: "That translates into how many pretzels?"
"You get about 250-300 pretzels per bag of flour. A double dough would be twice that."
The dough goes into a machine called a stringer that cuts strings of dough for the employees to twist.
Kuznits: "It's a little mesmerizing watching you guys twist these pretzels so quickly!"
"I myself was a slow learner. I would say it took me months!"
After a stint in the refrigerator, they get dipped.
"It's a highly concentrated salt solution."
Then they are thrown directly into a 525 degree oven for about six minutes.
"One small mistake and you know, you'll come back and you'll have burnt pretzels."
The smell of fresh pretzels fills the store.
Kuznits: "I can't wait to eat one now."
"Well that makes two of us!"
Hear the full podcast …
And for this week, that's "What's Cooking on 1060!"
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