Sourdough Grissini

This week's highlight was a unique experiment with my sourdough starter: Sourdough Grissinis.

I adapted the recipe from "Karakılçık," a Turkish sourdough book by Taha Dinç. I had tried this recipe before when I first got the book, but the results were soft, bready, and overly sour.

This time, I trusted my instincts and adjusted the dough as I went. I used less starter and considered halving the recipe, but while mixing the dough, I realized that keeping the other ingredients and using half the starter would work just fine. The result was beautiful Grissini, just as they were meant to be.

The only hiccup was that I made them too tall, and they didn't fit into my tall Ikea jar. Lesson learned for next time!

Sourdough Grissini

Makes 16

Ingredients

• 100g sourdough starter

• 190g water

• 450g white bread flour

• 50g einkorn flour

• 15g caster sugar

• 100ml olive oil

• 10g salt

• 10g water

Optional Topping

• Egg white

• Grated Parmesan

Method

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the starter and 190 gr water with a fork. Then, add the flours and sugar. Mix at a slow speed while adding the olive oil in a steady stream. Continue to mix for a few minutes until everything is combined. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

2. Add the 10gr water and salt to the rested dough. Mix at medium-high speed for 10 minutes.

3. Brush another bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough to this bowl. Cover and let it rest for 5 hours.

4. Tear 50g pieces from the dough and shape each into a 10-15 cm long sausage shape. Let them rest for 1 hour.

5. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. Take each sausage and reshape them to be 20-30 cm sausages.

7. Place them on the lined baking tray, leaving a 2 cm gap, and let them prove for 2 hours.

8. Preheat the oven to 180°C with a fan setting.

9. If you are using Parmesan topping, brush each breadstick with egg white and sprinkle grated Parmesan.

10. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown.

11. Leave them on a wire rack to cool completely..