Aperitivo, Bread, Vegan, Vegetarian

Italian semolina breadsticks – Grissini

This type of crunchy and elongated bread is said to originate in Piedmont. In some parts of Italy, grissini are served with meals together or instead of regular bread. They are perfect for snacks (how about dipping them in Nutella?) or as finger food, when wrapped with delicious prosciutto! Once you have tried it, you would like to have a huge stock of them at home - guaranteed!

Prep time: 30 min (+80 min for resting)
Baking time: 16 min
Total: 2 hours and 10 min (including resting time)

$3-5 total*

30-35 grissini

Ingredients

500 g (3 cups) semolina flour
250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
8 g (1 and 1/4 teaspoons) fine salt
1 teaspoon honey
4 g (1 abundant teaspoon) active dry yeast (not instant)
40 g (3 tbsp) olive oil

Preparation

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the dry yeast, water, olive oil, honey, and half of the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine and let sit for 10 minutes.

Add the salt and the remaining flour. Knead by hand for about 10-15 min, until you obtain an elastic ball (with a mixer or bread machine, it will take less). If your dough results too dry, wet your hands one or two times and keep kneading.

Shape into a rectangle (see picture below), wrap with a plastic film and let it rest for 20 minutes.

After the waiting time, remove the dough from the plastic wrap and gently press it by hand to a thickness of about 1 cm (3/8″). Fold the dough twice to obtain a long rectangle with the short side measuring about 8 cm (3 inches), as shown in the pictures below.

Wrap the dough with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let it rest for 45-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 °F (230 °C).

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough in strips of about 1 cm (3/8″) wide. Working one strip at a time, toss it in some semolina flour and pull the ends in opposite directions. Place the pulled strips on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake the grissini for 15-16 minutes, flipping them after 10-12 minutes. They must be golden brown.

Transfer to racks to cool.

Tips & notes

If you are using fresh yeast, multiply the amount of dry yeast by 3 (so in this case, use 12 g of fresh yeast).
As they keep drying, the day after they are even tastier!
You can add seeds before baking the grissini.
Serve them wrapped with prosciutto for the perfect aperitivo!