Rosemary Sourdough Grissini

Grissini, a.k.a. bread sticks are such a nice snack, or something you can munch on when you are so hungry and dinner's not ready yet. But they can be also a nice way to serve appetizers. You can wrap a slice of ham or prosciutto around them and just serve to your guests in an informal way, as finger food.
They can also be made in many ways with additions like herbs, seeds, spices etc. I've even had some with chocolate bits (sweet ones, of course).
You'll always find these on any restaurant table in Italy. They can be really addictive, especially when you are hungry.
While I was refreshing my sourdough starter the other day to make some bread, I was kind of sorry (I always am) to throw away those parts that were not at the top of quality for bread or keeping. So I thought, why not make some grissini? Unlike bread, they don't require perfect leavening, so even less strong starter will do perfectly. And it did.
However, if you'd like to make yourself some grissini, and don't have sourdough starter, replace it with 10 g of fresh yeast or 1/2 package (3,5 g) of dry instant yeast.

Rosemary Sourdough Grissini

* 100 g sourdough starter (with 50% hydratition)
* 150 ml water
*  300 g flour
*  1 TBspoon extra virgin olive oil
* 2 rosemary twigs
*  1 teaspoon salt

       

Put the sourdough starter, divided into small pieces, into a mixing bowl and add water. Let it soften in water for 5-10 minutes and then dissolve it completely using a fork or a whisk.
Add the olive oil, the finely chopped rosemary leaves, salt and flour and knead into a firm dough.
Place the dough into a clean bowl and let proof for 2 hours.
Roll the dough out with a rolling pin forming a rectangle about b4-5 mm thick.
Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 1,5 cm wide stripes along the shorter side of the rectangle.
Take two stripes and intertwine them.
Place them on a lightly oiled baking tin.
Bake them in an oven preheated to 200°C for 10-15 minutes.
Let them cool and enjoy.

* You may brush the grissini with lightly beaten eggwhite before baking and then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
* My verdict is these tasted best the day they were baked. What was leftover, turned to hard to bite after a couple days, but it might be my fault, I probably should have stored them in a plastic bag or something.

Grissini al rosmarino

* 100 g lievito madre
* 150 ml acqua
*  300 g farina
*  1 cucchiaio di olio extra vergine d'oliva
* 2 rametti di rosmarino
*  1 cucchiaino di sale

Spezzettate il lievito madre, mettetelo in una ciotola e unite l'acqua leggermente tiepida. Lasciatelo ammorbidire in acqua e poi mescolate con una forchetta o frustino a mano per far sì che si sciolga completamente.
Aggiungete l'olio, foglie di rosmarino sminuzzate finemente, il sale e la farina. Impastate bene.
Mettete l'impasto in una ciotola pulita, coprite e lasciate lievitare per 2 ore.
Con l'aiuto di un mattarello, stendete la pasta in un rettangolo sottile (4-5 mm).
Con un coltello affilato o la rotellina per la pizza tagliate la pasta in strisce larghe 1,5 cm lungo il lato corto del rettangolo.
Prendete due strisce di pasta e intorcigliatele tra di loro.
Distribuite i grissini su una teglia leggermente oleata.
Cuoceteli nel forno già caldo a 200°C per circa 10-15 minuti.
Lasciateli raffreddare su una grata.

* Volendo, spennellate i grissini con l'albume leggermete sbattuto e cospargeteli con i semi di sesamo o papavero prima di infornarli.
** Secondo me, i grissini erano buonissimi, croccanti e profumati, il giorno stesso che li ho fatti. Dopo si sono induriti un po'. Ma può essere colpa mia, forse dovevo conservarli in una busta di plastica

Grisini s ružmarinom

* 100 g kvasa/kiselog tijesta
* 150 ml vode
* 300 g brašna
* 1 žlica maslinovog ulja
* 2 grančice ružmarina
* 1 žličica soli

Nakidajte kvas u zdjelu i dodajte sasvim malo umlačenu vodu. Ostavite kvas da odmekne 5-10 minuta, a zatim izmiješajte vilicom ili rukom dok se potpuno ne istopi.
Dodajte ulje, sitno nasjeckane listiće ružmarina, sol i brašno i zamijesite čvrsto tijesto.
Ostavite ga pokriveno u zdjeli 2 sata.
Razvaljajte tanko tijesto (4-5 mm) u oblik pravokutnika.
Narežite ga nožem ili kotačićem za pizzu duž kraće stranice na trake širine 1,5 cm.
Uzimajte po dvije trakice i uvijete ih jednu oko druge.
Stavljajte oblikovane grisine na malo nauljen pleh.
Stavite ih peći u pećnicu zagrijanu na 200°C oko 10-15 minuta.
Ostavite ih da se ohlade.

* Po želji, grisine prije pečenja premažite bjeljanjkom i pospite sezamom ili makom u zrnu.
** Po meni, grisini su bili najbolji taj dan kad sam ih ispekla, hrskavi i mirisni. Poslije su dosta otvrdnuli, ali vjerojatno je i moja greška jer bi se možda bolje očuvali spremljeni u plastičnu vrećicu.