Grissini Breadsticks

Are you familiar with grissini? A far cry from their soft, chewy pizza parlor cousins, grissini are long, thin, Italian-style breadsticks. They are crisp all the way through and can be flavored with various herbs, seeds, and spices to complement whatever else you may be serving. You can wrap them with paper-thin slices of prosciutto for a classic presentation, but they’re equally delicious served just as they are. Read on for the recipe and technique for this easy-to-make, dramatic addition to your next party.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 package (1 scant tablespoon) active-dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• Oil for the bowl

Directions:

1. Proof the yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the whole wheat flour, water, honey and yeast. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine and let sit for 10 minutes. The mixture should be foamy and show some liveliness.
2. Add the remaining ingredients. Add the all-purpose flour, olive oil, and salt. Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment until combined, and then on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and shiny.
3. Let rest. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and transfer it to a small bowl. Drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil over the dough and roll it around until it has been coated. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and let sit undisturbed in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in bulk.
4. Preheat the oven and prep the baking sheets. When the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 425°F and line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Divide dough (optional). If you would like to make several different varieties of grissini from a single batch, punch the dough down and divide into portions. For this post, I made plain, rosemary and black sesame seed grissini, so I divided the dough into three pieces.
6. Shape the dough. For plain grissini, shape the dough into a rough, flat rectangle. Slice a finger-sized piece from the long length of the rectangle with a sharp knife or a bench scrapper. Roll it into a long, irregularly shaped snake and place on the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough, placing the dough snakes about 1/2″ apart. Note: The dough contains enough olive oil that you shouldn’t need flour to roll it out. If, for some reason, it is sticky, sprinkle a small amount of four on your surface before rolling.
7. Add flavor to the grissini (optional.) To add herbs, knead about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh herbs into the dough and roll into snakes, as above. To add seeds, make the snakes as above. Measure out a couple of tablespoons of seeds and coax them into a long, thin line — as long as your snakes but fatter. Lay your snake over the seeds and press gently to make the seeds adhere. Place snakes on the baking sheet. Pick up one end and twist several times to create a swirl.
8. Let the grissini rise until puffed. Let the grissini rest for a few minutes before baking, so they puff up a bit, about 15 minutes.
9. Bake the grissini. Place the baking sheets with grissini into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. At 5 minutes, rotate the pans and check their progress. The grissini are quite thin, so they will burn easily! Keep an eye on them and take them out when they are golden brown.
10. Cool and store. Carefully move the grissini to a cooling rack to cool. Once they are cool, store them in an airtight container (for up to 2 to 3 days) until ready to serve.