Breadstick stars

A play on my traditional grissini, tweaked into a festive shape and covered with any toppings you choose, though here I have used hemp seeds, poppy seeds and parmesan.

Notes

Use a fine milled flour, an 00 grade if possible such as Murino Molina from Bakery Bits (which is what I used here) or plain white flour or bread flour for brioche. At a pinch, any strong white bread flour will work if you can’t get a fine flour, but it won’t give you the ultimate crisp snap of a proper grissino.

Equipment

• Large bowl
• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment – if not kneading by hand
• Pizza cutter, bread scraper or long sharp knife (non-serrated)
• Baking trays, lined
• Rolling pin
• Pastry brush

Ingredients

• 300g tipo 00, fine plain or other white flour (see notes above)
• 4 g fast acting dried yeast
• 2/3 teaspoon of fine salt
• 4-5 turns of a pepper mill
• 15mg olive oil
• 195g tepid water
• Added ingredients of your choice, but I used:
  • poppy seeds (1-2 tablespoons)
  • hemp seeds (1-2 tablespoons)
  • grated parmesan (about 10g)
• An egg, whisked and used as a wash
• Additional flour, for dusting the surface as required

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together into a scruffy mess and leave for 10 minutes
2. Tip out and knead for 8 – 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and glossy or mix it in your stand mixer
3. Leave the dough to rest in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with a tea towel or cling film until about doubled in size (if using continental flour it is likely to just rise by about another 50% instead). This could be anything between 30 – 90 minutes depending on the ambient temperature
4. In the meantime, grate the parmesan and ready your seeds/flavourings
5. When the dough is ready, lightly flour a surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into as precise a rectangle as possible (any wobbly sides will need to be trimmed off)
6. Cut strips from the dough, each about 1 cm thick – cut along the short edge
7. Have the paper-lined baking sheets to hand
8. Roll each of the strips lightly, so they form tubes rather than ribbons. Try not to stretch them too much (it will be easy to roll them on a less floured surface)
9. Form a five pointed star with each strip of dough and pinch the two edges together at an end point:
   
   
10. Complete stars with all the dough
11. Cover and leave to rise again – for about 20-30 minutes until puffed up (they probably won’t double in size)
12. Set the oven on to 200C fan / 220C conventional
13. Paint an egg wash on each of the dough stars and sprinkle (or grate!) your favoured toppings on. I did a third of the stars in poppy seeds, a third in hemp seeds and the final third with grated parmesan
14. Bake for about 17-18 minutes until a nice golden colour (under the toppings)
15. Turn off the oven and leave for a further 5 minutes so they are crisp with a nice ‘snap’ when cooled and ready to eat
16. Wonderful dipped in a little butter, hummus, salsa or to scoop up fondue or baked camembert
    

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