Herb & Parmesan Bread Sticks

I don't get the opportunity to feed a crowd very often these days, but when I do, I now always take the opportunity to make these bread sticks.  The get snaffled up very quickly. So quickly I am thinking that next time I'll make double...

You need one recipe of dough. I just make a basic white dough in my breadmaker.  My recipe is dairy free and is no fail.  To make this it's 4 Cups of Flour, 2 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of sugar (you can use honey), 3 tbsp of olive oil, 1 Cup plus 1/8th of a Cup of Water, Yeast.

The actual recipe asks for 2 tablespoons of butter, but since I got a new breadmaker I find the dough has been a little dry so I put an extra tablespoon of olive oil.  I use fresh yeast bought from the local bakery, which I crumble and keep in the freezer.

I wasn't quite ready for the breadsticks, but the dough was, so I wrapped it in gladwrap to keep it from drying out until I could get to the making of the breadsticks....

The filling is: T tablespoon of Finely chopped Rosemary and Thyme, 2 teaspoons of dried sage, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped capers, the zest of 1 lemon and half a cup f freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Combine these in a bowl and set aside..

 Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle  approximately 50 x 30 cm.

Combine 1/3 Cup of Olive oil with 2 cloves of garlic crushed (I used 3), then lightly brush the dough with the oil.

Spread the filling over half the dough...

Then fold the other half over the top.  Lightly roll the dough to press the two halves together then brush the top with more of the garlic oil...

Cut into strips 1cm wide (about 25cm long) and twist each piece from both ends Place on baking tray 2cm apart.  Bursh with garlic oil and sprinkle with sea salt. This is what they look like.

I wasn't ready to cook them straight away, as I had to wait for something else to cook up first, so I covered with gladwrap to stop them drying out. I then transferred them to a tray later.  One thing is that you have to sort of press down on the end when on the tray or else they can start unravelling.

Bake at 200C for 8 minutes then turn the sticks over and bake for a further 5-6 minutes or until they are golden.

When they come out of the oven brush with the remaining garlic oil and sprinkle them with another half cup of grated Parmesan.  The sticks are best served warm so if making ahead reheat for 3-4 minutes in a hot oven.

Mine were snaffled up so quickly I didn't get a chance to get a final photo image to show.

Cleaning up for me required a change of tshirt (covered in flour), and a camera clean (covered in flour)!

Hope you enjoy!