North Market’s Brezel Wants a Spot on Your Thanksgiving Table

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Franklin County

Every Thanksgiving host has a plan for the turkey. The bread next to it is usually an afterthought. Brezel, the Bavarian-style pretzel stand at the North Market in Columbus, would like to change that.

The shop hand-rolls its pretzels and bakes them in small batches, in more than 60 flavors. Owner Brittany Baum has aimed the November lineup squarely at holiday tables, with a featured specialty flavor every weekend leading up to Thanksgiving and a few oversized items built for a crowd.

“It’s really hard to go wrong with any flavors,” Baum said.

Here is the featured lineup for November:

• Oct. 31 to Nov. 1: Pumpkin Spice
• Nov. 7 to 8: Roasted Potato, Rosemary & Cheddar
• Nov. 14 to 15: Apple, Cheddar, Rosemary
• Nov. 21 to 22: Stuffing Pretzel
• Nov. 28 to 29: Apple Pie

Other flavors will be on hand those weekends too. These are the featured specials.

One late addition to the lineup: the crew has also created a Stuffing pretzel for the season. They slow roast carrots, celery, onions, bell peppers, garlic and herbs and mix them right into the dough, then top it with pretzel salt before baking. It is vegan, and Baum suggests eating it on its own or using it to make actual stuffing for the holiday table.

The centerpiece pitch is the Pretzelsaurus, a giant pretzel big enough to anchor a charcuterie board. Its twists leave plenty of nooks and crannies for cheese, fruit, meat, olives and dips, and the shop’s thinking is simple: with a pretzel that size on the board, nobody needs crackers or another loaf of bread.

The shop’s pretzel soup bowls pull double duty at the holidays. Fill one with soup, or take Baum’s tip and set a bowl of dip right on the charcuterie board.

For snacking before the meal, the twists and bites are the easy pick. They come in mixed flavors, and because they are smaller than a full pretzel, guests can try a couple without filling up before the turkey lands. The dips are made from scratch, running from sweet to spicy to savory, with beer cheese, garlic herb butter and vanilla frosting among the popular ones. The pretzel flatbreads, Baum suggests, can go straight on the grill.

Her staff is also working on pretzel bowls and rolls shaped like pumpkins for Thanksgiving.

Custom work is a house specialty. The shop has turned pretzel dough into initials, custom words, Olympic rings and pretzel calzones, along with Script Ohios for the home crowd.

Baum recommends placing Thanksgiving orders at least a week ahead of time, especially for unique flavor combinations, so the shop has time to bring in specialty ingredients.

To serve the pretzels tasting fresh from the oven, she suggests ordering them unsalted and frozen, since the shop’s products have no preservatives. At home, moisten the pretzel with water, sprinkle on the pretzel salt the shop provides, and warm it in the oven. Heating instructions and salt come with the order, she said, to take out the guesswork.

Brezel is at the North Market in downtown Columbus.

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