People very often ask if we are a German bakery. The short answer is we are of German heritage and we celebrate that. However, Huntington is a very diverse populace and Reinwald's Bakery chooses to recognize many traditions. Not only is it nice to celebrate diversity but it is interesting for our bakery to work with many different ingredients and styles of baking. That said, people the world over participate in Oktoberfest, the largest fair in the world held each year in Munich, Germany.

                The first Oktoberfest was actually a wedding. On October 12, 1810 Prince Louis of Bavaria married Princess Therese. The royal family invited the entire populace of Bavaria and as you can imagine this was not a one day affair. After the wedding there were horse races that proved very popular. It was so popular the horse owners and citizens of Munich wanted to run races the next year. Oktoberfest was born.

                Several years later an agricultural component was added and the festival lengthened. It became a celebration of Bavarian industry and culture. Of course this included beer. This area of Germany has the highest concentration of hops production in the world. They brew a special Oktoberfest beer, 2% stronger than their normal beers.

               This month Reinwald's Bakery is going to celebrate our German and Austrian heritage with an Oktoberfest menu. The first time I was in Munich was a cold February day. On a city tour they took us past the "Theresien-wiese" or Theresa's fields. This was a huge park and in the rear of the property there were stacks of what looked like piles of crates. Inquiring what that was; the guide told me that they were the knocked down beer tents for Oktoberfest and that they are only used 15 days a year.

                My next two visits to Munich coincided with the festival and the transformation of the city was unbelievable. People are so packed into the many beer tents that I was almost afraid to drink in fear that I could not get out to use the facilities. Note I said almost. All the beer is served in glass mugs. In fact all beverages were served in glass. As we were walking the midway, Carole had a cola and that was served in a glass and I had a coffee in a ceramic cup. I must admit as we were walking back to our hotel we saw lots of broken glass in the gutters and unfortunately a few "beer comatose" people as well.

               The beer gets first mention with Oktoberfest, but right behind that is the cuisine. It is this food that inspires this month's Sweet Treats. You think of Bavaria and you think beer and sauerkraut. We have developed a bread with both included. Not to worry it doesn't taste like sauerkraut, but rather it has a slight tang. Perfect with Bratwurst or this month's recipe, Frankenburger Sauerbraten. Even after all the beer, pretzels, and wurst the festival goers have dessert. Of course the number one dessert of Oktoberfest is apple strudel. This staple will be on special this month.

               As I mentioned earlier we are of German and Austrian heritage. To honor that part of our heritage we included two Austrian desserts. My father, on a trip to Vienna, visited the world famous Hotel Sacher to sample their signature cake, the Sacher Torte. He was severely disappointed calling it dry and tasteless. Our version, featured this month, is moist and flavorful. The second largest city in Austria is Linz. Did you know that the "Linzer Torte" is rumored to be the world's oldest cake? They also made small versions called Linzer Tarts, which is very familiar to all. We use butter in our cookie dough and real raspberry jam made with pectin not corn starch.

Please join us in our celebration of our heritage  

Enjoy your days,

Rich Reinwald.