World’s Most Versatile Breadsticks

breadsticksAlthough I am trying to stay away from most refined carbs, that avoidance doesn’t mean that I can’t eat bread. I just eat good bread! I’ve ranted and raved about the joys of grinding your own wheat in the intro to the cookbook, so I’m not going to repeat myself here.

 

 

Peppery Cheese Sticks

I encourage you to try these if you have any bread chops at all. You can easily make the dough in your breadmaking machine --you do have one of those, don't you? These breadsticks are tender and chewy-crunchy.
Course Bread
Servings 48 breadticks
Debi Simons Debi Simons

Ingredients

  • 3 1/4 cups Flour Freshly-ground hard whole wheat is best then whole-wheat flour from the grocery store, and then, last, regular or bread unbleached flour.
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1/4 cup olive oil Plus extra for brushing over the dough
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1 cup water

Instructions

  1. Put through quick dough cycle.
  2. Roll the dough, on a lightly oiled work surface, into a 10 x 18-inch rectangle. Cut the dough into strips 1/3" wide, 10" long. (Use a pizza cutter for the fastest results.) Place them on lightly oiled or parchment-lined baking sheets. Let the strips rise, covered, for about 30 minutes, until they look slightly puffy.
  3. Bake the breadsticks in a preheated 375'F oven for 18 to 22 minutes, until they're golden brown, flipping them over halfway through. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack. 

Recipe Notes

Yield: about 48 breadsticks, depending on how thin you cut them. Thinner sticks will bake up crisper, if you space them out on the baking sheet.

This recipe is very adaptable. You can vary the cheese and seasonings to fit the rest of your menu—Parmesan plus perhaps some garlic and Italian seasoning for an Italian dinner, finely-grated Cheddar and some taco seasoning for a Mexican dinner, etc.   Adapted from  recipe originally printed in an issue of the King Arthur Flour product catalog.