Salt and Pepper Breadsticks

During my epic baking day the other month I also tried baking bread. This was the first time I had made bread in a very long time, and I was apprehensive because bread is so different to the cakes that I usually try out. Lorraine Pascal came to the rescue with a straightforward recipe for white breadsticks with salt and pepper topping.

Method 
Just the basic bread recipe: flour, warm water, salt, and yeast.  Mix and kneed this together. Then leave to rise. Shape the dough into your shapes. Rolling out the soft dough into long and thin sticks proved quite difficult, especially with sticky hands. I didn’t want to flour them too much as I knew that would dry out the dough. Some of the sticks were cut into three strips so they could be plaited. Then they were left to rise again. Finally I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled over ground black pepper or sea salt before they went in the oven.

Results 
The breadsticks were meant to be quite chunky but mine were perhaps a little on large side. They weren’t that neat either (except for Lewis’ amazing efforts) but I think the rustic look was the one to go for here. Also, I did get fed up at the end and made some simple rolls too.

The bread baked really well and the sticks were nice and light and soft, with a slightly chewy crust; perfect for dipping into salsa and hummus. The flavouring wasn’t too overpowering but added something extra to the plain bread. Overall I was very pleased with the results and I think I will try some more adventurous bread recipes soon.

Score: 9/10

Soundtrack: It’s so long ago I can’t remember! Possibly Parks and Recreation on the TV. (A very good program that I recommend watching. Check it out here.)