I have still been doing a bit of cooking and some new recipes. I found a lovely website that has German and Austrian recipes. And Google Translate, does a really good job of translating the recipes into English. http://www.chefkoch.de/
The recipes brought back memories of our trips to Austria and the lovely food we had to eat there. In the mornings there were always lovely breads to eat and one of my faves were these pretzel rolls. I thought they were so hard to make, but actually they are really easy.
http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/1199651225822377/Schwaebische-Laugenbroetchen.html
The Natron in the recipe is actually Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda.
One of the tips I have is to sprinkle the seeds on immediately after you take them out of the boiling water/soda mixture. You can also make soft pretzels using this recipe. And you snip the rolls after you boil them. They are lovely and autumnal looking. And they went well with the Hungarian stew I fixed that day. You can also find the recipe for this stew on the website too.
For the dough I used my breadmaker to make it. Once it was formed into a ball and before letting it rise I took it out and then followed the recipe. It makes it sooooo easy. And they are really scrummy served with mustard on them. Brian ate about 3 before I could dish up the stew.
This recipe is also on the site. But I am not sure where I found it. I slightly changed it anyway, as I usually do with most recipes. I modify them to fit what I have on hand. Take some puff pastry and I had the pre rolled ones. Cut in half. Mine made enough for 4. Take some cooked ham, chicken and chop into about 2cm chunks. I mixed it with some chopped onions, broccoli and tomatoes and some fresh basil. You can really add any vegetables or meat you like, and your fav herbs too. Mix with some cream cheese or quark and some chopped or grated cheese of your choice. Put filling in the middle of the puff pastry and brush the pastry with a beaten egg with a little water added to it. Then fold one side over and brush and then the other side. Using a fork crimp the edges and then brush again with the egg.
Bake at 200C for about 40 minutes and serve hot with some salad. 
