Crispy Bread Sticks (Grissini)
This recipe for bread sticks (called Grissini) uses a simple focaccia (i.e. pizza dough). A food processor makes very short work of the mixing, but the dough may also be mixed by hand (7 to 8 minutes) or in a stand mixer (5 minutes).
- 625 g flour (5 2/3 cups)
- 400 mL water at room temperature (if it’s too dry, I add up to 100mL extra)
- 2 tsp instant yeast (6g but a package is 8g or 2¼ tsp and that’s okay too)
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- toppings (like sea salt, coarsely-ground pepper, minced garlic, onion flakes, etc)
- Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a large food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.
- Combine the water and olive oil in a liquid measuring cup. With the processor running, add the liquid to the dry ingredients in a steady stream.
- Process until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 1½ minutes).
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with damp cloth and let stand at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1.5 – 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.. A baking stone and steam are not needed.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Keep the pieces you’re not working with covered.
- On a floured counter, roll each portion of the dough out into a rectangle about 12 x 8″. The exact dimensions are not critical. Cut the dough into 16 strips of equal width. A pizza cutter works very well for this.
- Fold each strip over on itself to give it a bit of extra strength. On an unfloured surface, roll the strip into a long snake (a bit longer than the length of your baking sheet, to allow for spring-back) or you can also just pull them into the desired length.
- Place them evenly spaced across the width of the parchment-lined baking sheet. Lightly spray or brush with olive oil and sprinkle on the topping.
- Bake at 350F for 25 – 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 64 bread sticks
Tags: gift idea