Playing with Bread Sticks

In Italian restaurants, breadsticks are often served as an appetizer. This recipe is a spicy herbed version adapted from “The Bread Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It is shaped using a pasta maker so you get perfectly sized pencil-thin, crispy and spicy breadsticks. They are long, tall, and twisty uniform sticks that look so pretty when placed in a holder. In an Italian-themed dinner or lunch spread they make a fabulous centerpiece. It is nice to place them in a vase or decorative container for a spectacular bouquet of breadsticks that your guests will feel free to pick and munch on as much as they want.

These breadsticks are easy to nibble because they are thin and crispy without making you or your guests feel full. This is a really enticing treat that will stimulate your appetite for more because they are spiced with Tabasco, pepper, and aromatic herbs. If you find the cut too long and don’t fit into your oven, you can simply slice the dough into two depending on your preference. This recipe makes use of a liberal amount of cornmeal. It adds texture and will also keep the dough from sticking and bunching together. This way, the breadsticks dough is also easier to handle.

You can serve this yummy spicy bread sticks with tomato or mushroom soup or as a side dish to spaghetti for an extra kick that will turn a meal not only good but great. For a quick and stupendous snack, they can also be dipped in cheese sauce, marinara, or red pepper coulis. They are also the prefect companions to chili beans and hearty stews. Dip them in the hot soup and they will absorb the flavors of the sauces and taste extra delicious when you bite into them. For a quick savory snack during sports season or game day, make these breadsticks and share it with everyone. An ice-cold beverage goes perfectly well with it.

Ingredients

2 4 cups bread flour
½ teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons minced herbs (like chives, thyme, sage, and rosemary)
½ teaspoon Tabasco
1 cup room temperature water
Cornmeal
Sea salt

1. Use an electric mixer to blend the flour, yeast, salt, peppers, garlic powder, cheese, herbs, and Tabasco until well incorporated. Switch to a dough hook and, little by little, add the water, mixing on low speed. Keep mixing until the dough starts pulling away from the bowl. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface, adding more flour if the dough is sticky.

2. Lightly spray the top of the dough with olive oil. Place in a container sprayed with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours, pressing down gently on the top of the dough after the first 2 hours. If the dough more than doubles in appearance, press it down again.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F one hour before baking. Sprinkle the counter with cornmeal. Cut the dough into 4 pieces and turn each piece into a sphere. Flatten each sphere. Cover and refrigerate all but 2 pieces of dough.

4. Pass the dough through a pasta machine on the widest setting to flatten it, and making the dough about 1/8 in. thick. Be sure to sprinkle the flattened dough with cornmeal to keep it from sticking. Set aside and do the same for the second piece of dough.

5. Run the flattened dough through the pasta machine using the setting for fettuccine (about ¼ in. wide). Then lay the slices on the counter and toss them until they are fully coated with cornmeal. Separate them and lay on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Make sure that the pieces don’t touch each other. Spray with olive oil. Sprinkle sea salt and more cornmeal over the bread sticks.

6. Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. The bread sticks should curve up from the parchment paper. Then move the bread sticks to a wire cooling rack. Let the baking trays cool completely before baking another batch.