Photography by Kym Grimshaw
Rolling stretchy dough gives a connection to your cooking – really feel the breadsticks take shape under your hands and let go of any idea of perfection. Let them be imperfectly wonky. If you’ve never made breadsticks from scratch before, you’ll be surprised by how easy and delicious they are.
Makes 16-20 breadsticks
250g bread flour
1 tsp instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
1 tsp fine salt
60ml olive oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
2-3 tbsp seeds (poppy seeds, sesame or chia seeds)
1 Combine the bread flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Pour in 135ml lukewarm water and the olive oil, then mix until you have a dough.
2 On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for two mins, or until it’s smooth, elastic and easy to work with.
3 Place on a 30cm x 20cm baking tray which has been lined with baking paper and flatten the dough into a rectangle that fills the tray.
4 Brush the dough with a little olive oil and sprinkle over the seeds. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour.
5 When ready, preheat the oven to 205C/Fan 185C/Gas 6. Once the dough has risen, use a pizza cutter to slice it lengthways into strips – around 1.5cm wide. You should get about 16-20 breadsticks.
6 Transfer each strip to one of two lined baking sheets, gently stretching each strip until they are a little longer but not too thin.
7 Bake for 15-20 mins, checking they don’t catch or burn, the transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This recipe is from our Kitchen Therapy feature in the June issue of The Simple Things, called ‘Take It Outside’ - a collection of recipes and projects that can all be done (at least partially) en plein air, including Pavlova with Berries & Rose Petal Cream, Blossom Ice Cubes, Lemon Possets, Whipped Feta Dip with Hot Honey & Crudites and Almond Presse. The recipes are by Lottie Storey and the photography by Kym Grimshaw.
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