Let’s learn with Sonia how to make homemade breadsticks, one of the most popular Italian food products… it’s so easy, you won’t believe it!
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Do you think that making breadsticks by yourself is a mission impossible? With my recipe, you’ll see how easy it is! Let’s see together what ingredients we’ll need:
• 4 cups (500 g) of flour
• ½ tbsp (8 g) of salt
• 1 tsp of barley malt (or 1 tsp of sugar)
• ½ oz (15 g) of fresh yeast • just over 1 cup (280 ml) of water
• 1-2 tbsp of durum-wheat semolina
• 1/5 cup (50 ml) of extra virgin olive oil + 2 tbsp for brushing
Let’s make together the stretched breadsticks:
To make the breadsticks, you can knead by hand or use a stand mixer with paddle attachment. But let’s start by pouring some water into a small bowl… crumble in the fresh yeast… add the barley malt, or the sugar… and mix everything. Then take the salt, add it to the remaining water… and let it dissolve. The water must be lukewarm.
Place the flour in the bowl of the mixer and beat… add the yeast, malt and water mixture… then add the salted water and the oil. Slowly fold in the ingredients and beat for at least 10 minutes, until you have an elastic dough.
Our dough is ready, as you can see it’s smooth and elastic. Now form it into a loaf… and sprinkle a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, with durum-wheat semolina… that is basically coarse-grained flour… sprinkle the bottom… then… flatten the dough slightly. Now brush thoroughly with oil… since the oil seals the dough and prevents it from drying out while rising. After brushing with oil, sprinkle some more semolina on top… and let it rise for at least 1 hour: it should double or even triple in volume. It would be best to put it in the oven with the light turned on… or you can cover it with a glass bowl.
Here we are, after an hour the dough has risen, and it’s time to shape the breadsticks, so take a wide knife and cut a strip of dough, about ½ inch (1 cm) wide… take the strip and stretch it out… you can make them as long as your baking pan, even 3 feet long… in this case, we’ll use a traditional baking sheet… when you have reached the desired length, break the dough with your hands. A distinctive feature of these breadsticks is that, when you break the dough, you can’t knead it again, so leave the pieces as they are and bake in the same way. When the baking sheet is full, bake at 390°F (200°C) for about 18-20 minutes.
Our breadsticks are ready and out of the oven, as you can see they’re nice and crispy. An idea to make your breadsticks more appealing is to brush with oil just before baking, and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
Have you seen my lovely basket of breadsticks? Their uneven shape is another distinctive feature, and once you’ve tasted them, I’m sure that you’ll make them again and again… see you next video recipe!