"So this is what happens when you start off making a 24-hour rise sourdough-style (my fake version without a starter) pizza dough for 2 pizzas. And then your schedule changes and you’re called in to work on a last-minute 3-day assignment and you’re too busy and you finish work late and you haven’t had time to take care of your dough nor make the pizza sauce nor run out to get the cheeses and toppings. So the dough sits in the fridge, very slowly rising yet still developing its flavor for 3 days … Now it’s the weekend and you open the fridge door and a little voice in your head says “oh no …” and you think you’re going to have to throw it out because it seems like it’s no longer rising nor active, but actually it’s okay. So you decide, to take it out of the fridge and you stare at it . . ."

BREADSTICKS ! Why not ? I’ll just roll it out, shape it, brush it with olive oil, sprinkle it with coarse salt and lots of different seeds.

I’ve obviously adjusted and retested the dough recipe to make the breadsticks tastier and a bit saltier (since it’s no longer a pizza dough that will be covered with toppings) and to be used as is or with dips. I made this recipe for two batches, one for the first day and one for the next day (so they can be very fresh each time). You can let the 2 containers of dough rise at room temperature and then refrigerate everything or let one rise at room temperature and let the other only rise in the fridge to be used the next day.

The actually shaping of the dough is easy. The reason I prefer the rectangular shape is because firstly I don’t need to trim it to be a perfect rectangle, the uneven edges will be removed only after baking. I use a ruler and pastry-roller to create the long thin pieces which I don’t separate or space out before baking because they’re easy to snap apart after they’re baked. I also leave the uneven edges on because they absorb the higher and extra heat of the oven and avoid over-cooking or burning the actual breadsticks that are closer to the edges. The edges turn into small, unevenly shaped crispy cracker bites that you snap off and can munch on before actually serving the breadsticks !

It’s not a fussy recipe and the end result isn’t like crispy crackers or store-bought drier breadsticks (or grissini) but more similar to the crispier edges of a slightly chewy pizza dough.

JUST SNAP APART, DIP, MUNCH, DIP AGAIN (yeah I’m a double-triple-quadruple dipper) and ENJOY . . . :)

salty & seedy sourdough breadsticks

02.12.2016

30 breadsticks (or 2 batches for 2 baking sheets of 15 breadsticks each)

ingredients

breadsticks dough :

525 grams (4 cups + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
175 grams (1&¹/₃ cups) whole wheat flour (or strong wholemeal bread flour)
250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) light beer
250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) buttermilk (or kefir)
8 grams (2 tsp) sugar
8 grams (2 tsp) dry instant yeast for a 12-hour rise at room temperature (or reduce to 1 tsp for a 24-hour rise at room temperature)
20 grams (4 tsp) fine sea salt
15 ml (½ tbsp + ½ tbsp) olive oil (for brushing each bowl)

for rolling out (quantities for 2 baking sheets, divide by 2 if baking only 1 sheet) :

5 grams (½ tbsp + ½ tbsp) cornmeal (or wheat semolina)
16 grams (1 tbsp + 1 tbsp) flour

topping for 2 batches (quantities for 2 baking sheets, divide by 2 if baking only 1 sheet) :

60 ml (2 tbsp + 2 tbsp) olive oil
30 grams grams (4 tsp + 4 tsp) mixed seeds (sesame, golden & dark flax, poppy)
30 grams (1½ tsp + 1½ tsp) coarse sea salt

instructions

combine the beer and buttermilk, add the sugar and the yeast and the 175 grams whole wheat flour, stir with a whisk and let sit 5 minutes
in a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour with the 4 tsp fine salt then add the liquid mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well-combined but slightly shaggy, let it rest for 5 minutes and knead by hand for 1 minute until smoother
divide the dough in half, place in two separate bowls that you brushed with 1/2 tbsp of olive oil each, cover and let rise overnight until doubled (at room temperature) or 24 hours in the refrigerator

note : if you wish to prepare the breadsticks dough 48-72 hours in advance to be baked 2-3 days later (for the weekend and even tastier), you can reduce the yeast to 1 tsp and let rise only in the refrigerator

slightly punch down the dough and place the container with the dough that has risen, in the refrigerator and let chill until ready to use (at least for 1 hour before rolling out or up to 12 hours)
lay a piece of baking paper on one large baking sheet (or two, if making both batches at once) and sprinkle with cornmeal and flour
lay the dough on top of the baking paper covered baking sheet, sprinkle with more cornmeal and flour and punch it down a bit and use a rolling pin to roll out into a large rectangle until much thinner (about 3 mm)
generously brush dough with olive oil, sprinkle with the mixed seeds and the coarse salt and roll over gently with the rolling pin (to slightly press the seeds and salt into the dough)
slice into thin strips 1,5 cm wide and 22-24 cm long, using a pastry roller and a ruler, do not separate the strips nor remove the uneven edges (they leftover extra edges will absorb the higher oven heat and avoid over-cooking or burning the breadsticks), cover loosely and let rise 1 hour in a warm space
preheat oven to 230°C
bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden, turn off the oven and let cool in the oven (with the oven door slightly ajar) for 15 minutes (or for 30 minutes if you prefer them very crispy), then remove, let cool completely before snapping the breadsticks apart.
serve at room temperature, with a dip.

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salty & seedy sourdough breadsticks

30 breadsticks (or 2 batches for 2 baking sheets of 15 breadsticks each)

ingredients

instructions

salty & seedy sourdough breadsticks

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