Sourdough Grissini

Sourdough what?

Sourdough Grissini.

And don't dare call these bread sticks or someone will think they are soft and chewy. Grissini is a long crisp, almost cracker-like bread - the kind served with some great pasta at those cute little Italian restaurants.

I've been following along with the sourdough challenges at Sourdough Surprises. Each month they choose a recipe to make with their sourdough. These gals get creative - danish, donuts, pie crust are among the recipes they tackled. I wanted to join in the fun but life was too crazy over summer to try anything new.

But this month, I jumped into the challenge - which happened to be grissini!

And I'm so glad I did! It was SO simple. And good!

Part of the challenge was to twist something into the grissini. Since I had lots of basil, I chose pesto. Wow! Good could actually become even better! I also made some with sesame and poppy seeds.

If you have a sourdough starter lurking in the corner of your kitchen, try these. Today.

Not that you have to obey me or anything. But surely someone will thank you.



Sourdough Grissini - with a Twist

1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1 cup sourdough starter
pesto, sesame seed, poppy seed - or whatever you want to twist into your bread

Combine all ingredients except the pesto or toppings. Mix well. Add more flour as needed but the dough should be soft. Allow to rest ten minutes. Knead five minutes. Place in greased bowl and allow to rise for 3 hours. Once an hour, gently fold and turn the dough to stretch the gluten.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease to baking sheets (or cover with parchment paper.) Divide the dough into three pieces. Flatten each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle.



Spread pesto liberally on dough. Or you can sprinkle heavily with sesame and poppy seed. Or get creative with another topping.



With pizza cutter, cut rectangle into 8 long strips.



Pull each strip gently to stretch to length of the cookie sheet and twist dough into a coil. Repeat until all three dough pieces are flattened, topped, cut, and twisted. Bake grissini until lightly browned about 25 minutes. Depending on thickness of your grissini, you may need more or less oven time. Cool completely before serving.

And go check out what the others are making at Sourdough Surprises.