Russia

We have been studying about Russia in homeschool lately. This week, we did a few projects to pull our learning together. Yesterday, we made homemade pretzels. I always thought pretzels were more of a Bavarian thing?? But, I found this recipe in the Russian section of Galloping the Globe, and it sounded more appealing than Borscht.

Soft Pretzels

1 envelope dry yeast

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

3/4 t. salt

1 1/2 t. sugar

4 cups flour

1 egg, beaten

kosher salt

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar and salt. Mix in flour and knead until the dough is soft and smooth. Do not let dough rise. Divide immediately into smaller pieces, roll into ropes, and form into pretzel shapes. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Beat egg with a little water and brush eggwash over pretzels. Sprinkle with kosher salt, if desired. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

We got eight good sized pretzels from this recipe, and they turned out quite good.

We also made faux Faberge' eggs. This was a fairly involved process, but we had a good time. First, we dyed some raw eggs. Then, we blew the insides out and let them dry overnight. The next day, the boys glued jewels on them. In 1884, Carl Faberge' created his first egg when the Emperor wanted to give his wife a present for Easter. For fun, we looked up the eggs online and found that we could purchase an authentic Moscow Kremlin Faberge' egg for $50,000.00. At the touch of a button. Faster than you can say "Sputnik". Oh yeah, you get free shipping with that.

Finally, the Russian flag, a'la Legos.......


Where in the world will we travel next? I do believe we're headed to South America. I have a fun field trip in store for the boys during our tour of Brazil. Stay tuned...