Sunday, December 26, 2010

Don't speak

Italian grissini
Photo by Lana Joos
If you would speak now, you would miss the sound of my crispy home made Italian grissini. They are absolutely delicious.

Grissini are golden bread sticks. You can serve them with soup or as an appetizer with artichoke/spinach dip. Have them as a snack, dipped in home made chocolate spread.

There are so many reasons why one should make his own grissini. They are easy to make and a good start for a beginning baker. You don't need a whole of ingredients and you won't need hours in the kitchen to finish them. And they are absolutely worth the effort. Why don't you invite some guests to have soup and grissini, before you make them a good ravioli?

what do we need:
  • 200 grams of all purpose flour
  • 50 grams of semolina flour (00 flour)
  • 1/2 package of dry yeast
  • 140 ml luke warm water
  • a pinch of sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of good olive oil
  • a pinch of salt
  • herbs to taste (basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, ..), chopped finely if you use fresh herbs
  • poppy seeds, sesame seeds or coarse salt
what do we do:
  • Combine the flour, semolina and salt.
  • Let the yeast leaven in the luke warm water with the sugar.
  • Add the oil and the yeast mixture to the flour.
  • Sprinkle the herbs over the flour and add a pinch of salt.
  • Mix with a fork and form it into a dough.
  • Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for about a quarter of an hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  • Divide the dough into 12 little clumps.
  • Roll each ball into a long grissini.
  • Roll each grissini into poppy seeds, sesame seeds or coarse salt. Or have them plain!
  • Bake the grissini until crisp and golden (approximately 15 min).
  • They will crisp up even further when they cool down.
  • Store them in a tin or serve them in a glass.
So what are you waiting for???

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