Time for some good baking!

When it’s rainy out, I have a little more time to bake. Our family especially loves the Laugenstangerl—they’re perfect as a sweet-and-sour pastry and aren’t heavy at all.

The amount listed below makes about 25 pieces.

1000 g wheat flour
2 cubes of yeast
80 g butter (softened)
500 ml water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt

For the lye bath

1 liter of water
, 2 tablespoons of baking soda

Preparation

Place all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them into a smooth dough, knead thoroughly (the longer you knead, the finer the dough will be), sprinkle with flour, and let it rise in a warm place.

Then shape the dough into round dumplings and form them into sticks, buttons, pretzels, or soccer balls. Let them rest for another 15 minutes.

Shape the dough on a board dusted with a little flour; this makes it easier to see the lye solution on the pastries. In the meantime, briefly bring the water and baking soda (1 packet, or 2 tablespoons) to a boil and let it cool slightly. Briefly dip both sides of the pastries into the lye solution and bake them on the prepared baking sheet at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. The lye solution can be reused and will keep in the refrigerator for a few days . Be sure to line the baking sheet with parchment paper so the lye solution doesn’t damage the sheet.
I especially like to make soccer balls or flower shapes—to do this, take the apple corer, dip it briefly in flour (just a little), and poke it once into the dough; then flip the round piece of dough over so that the side with the apple corer mark is facing down. Only when transferring them to the baking sheet or into the lye do you flip the pastries over.
Bake at 200 degrees for about 20–30 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack once they’ve taken on a nice color and let them cool.

Enjoy your meal. Serve it with some fresh quark spread with chives—it tastes wonderful!

Have fun trying it out, and have a lovely weekend.

Your Farmer Katharina