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Poderi Crisci Rosemary Grissini

A must-have addition to an Italian meal, especially with antipasto as these sticks offer a welcome crunch.

method

1. Make dough. Place flour, yeast and salt into large bowl. Measure out honey in jug. Add warm water and stir to combine. Pour water onto dry ingredients. Stir briefly to combine into lumpy dough.
2. Tip dough onto bench and scrape out any flour in bowl. Using clean hands, knead for 6 to 8 minutes until dough is stretchy, smooth and elastic. Can be kneaded with dough hook in electric mixer if preferred.
3. Place dough back in bowl and cover with tea towel to protect from draughts. Allow to prove for about 1 hour at room temperature to double the size.
4. When dough is ready, pre-heat oven to 200ºC.
5. Prepare the extras. Finely chop rosemary leaves.
6. Set aside salt along with olive oil and pastry brush for later.
7. Scrape dough from bowl onto bench. Do not knock back, but divide into 20gm pieces. Cover dough pieces with tea towel to prevent from drying out.
8. Roll each piece into thin, long uneven stick-like snakes, pressing in rosemary as you go. Roll on bench (or slightly rougher surface such as a chopping board) or in between hands and fingers to stretch. Ideally they should be no more than 4 or 5 mm thick.
9. Lay each grissini straight, on non-stick lined baking tray.
10. Repeat with remainder of dough. Grissini don’t need a second prove like many breads.
11. Brush each grissini with olive oil and scatter with salt flakes. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden and firm to touch.
12. Cool on wire rack.

cooks notes:

• All salt used in our recipes is Murray River Salt Flakes, if using granular salt, cut down amounts accordingly.
• Warm water temperature must not exceed 45º. If any hotter there is a risk the yeast will be killed.
• If grissini do not harden so they snap when broken, turn oven down to 180ºC and cook for further 5 to 10 minutes.
• Make plain grissini by omitting the rosemary. Use other woody herbs like thyme in place of or as well as rosemary.
• Well cooked Grissini can be stored in air tight container for up to 2 weeks.