Grissini
This one has been on my mind for a while, but its another one of those things I just never got around to making. Of course, as usual as soon as I got a taste of what I was missing I immediately regretted having held off for so long. If you have a food processor that can blend dough, these are ridiculously easy to make; if not, its still not that hard, it just might take a while. Either way, the end result is delicious, and its a great way to beef up a boring bread basket when you have guests over. For the ultimate home made bread basket, here’s a delicious recipe for the bread you see in the background of the picture.
Ingredients (makes about 10 breadsticks)
- 300g strong white bread flour
- 3 tsp fast action yeast
- himalayan rock salt
- plenty of ground black pepper
- plenty of rosemary
- some regular salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 100ml of lukewarm water
- olive oil
Preparation (5 mins. + 45 mins. waiting + 10 mins. preparing + 10 mins. cooking)
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Put all of the ingredients except for the water into the food processor (or bowl if doing by hand) and blend together for a few seconds. Now, while blending, slowly add a bit of water at a time. You’re looking for a consistency that is somewhat wet and looks sticky but easily comes off the sides of the bowl. If you pour too much water (as I do almost every time) just slowly add flour until the consistency is right. Next put the dough in a bowl and cover it with some cling film. Wait 45 minutes, then oil your hands with olive oil (do this every 2-3 breadsticks as it ensures the breadsticks all have a nice even cover of olive oil and also makes the dough much easier to handle) and roll little balls of dough into breadstick shapes. Remember they get bigger after cooking, so make sure they’re a little smaller than you want the final ones to be. Once they’re all done put in the oven and leave for about 10 minutes, although this depends on your oven so I recommend watching them often. They’re supposed to be quite crunchy so leave them until nice and golden brown. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then serve, or keep for later!
