Grissini with spices
Grissini with spices are something wonderful. Wonderfully versatile, wonderfully crispy! And quickly made! And super simple!
What are Grissini?
Grissini are thin breadsticks of different lengths and thickness, which serve as a substitute for bread. As a side dish to salad, with sauces to “dip”, wrapped with ham as an aperitif or with cheese, bacon, or garlic in them, or simply because they are tasty just like that. And if they’re spiced, you can’t resist them!
How are grissini made?
They are made from yeast dough, with a little olive oil in it. After all, they come from Italy, more precisely from Piedmont, where you can find them in the breadbasket at every restaurant.
Nowadays, of course, they are produced industrially and are therefore perfectly round. But they used to be rolled by hand and you could see that.
Personally, I like the hand-rolled ones better, they have more “character”. And the homemade ones are not all the same anyway.
They also have a long shelf life because they are baked crispy and then dried. They can no longer become hard.
Of course, I wanted to try them out with spices – for known reasons ? First I thought about which ones could fit well. And there were so many!
Spices that fit well in Grissini
In any case, black cumin, cumin and caraway fit very well.
If you add them as whole seeds, the grissini will have a bit more “bite” to them.
Then there’s ajowan, which tastes a lot like thyme, or coriander seeds, or peperoncino, if you like it a little spicier. Tasmanian pepper even gives them a fresh and slightly spicy taste.
Don’t forget turmeric, which makes the whole thing yellow like the sun.
As for spice mixtures, I can imagine Ras-el-Hanout, Cajun and Curry very well. There are no limits to your imagination!
If you only use one spice for the whole dough, you can knead it into the dough right away.
However, I usually make a neutral dough first and divide it into smaller pieces after rising and season each piece differently. This way I get different flavours of Grissini with spices.
So, but now the recipe
Grissini with spices
Ingredients
- 500 g flour white flour or wholemeal flour
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 packet dry yeast or ½ cube fresh yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 dl water (approx.) less for white flour, more for wholemeal flour
One of the following spices:
- 2 tbsp cumin of your choice
- 1 tbsp Ajowan
- 2 tbsp ground coriander seeds
- ½ - 1 tbsp chopped peperoncino depending on how spicy you like it
- 1 tbsp ground Tasmanian pepper
- 2 - 3 tbsp turmeric, Ras-el Hanout, Cajun or Curry
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Mix flour, yeast, salt and olive oil in a bowl.
- Then add the water and knead everything together to a soft dough. Put the dough to rise in a bowl covered with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out too much. Let the dough rise to the double (1-2 hours).
- After the dough has risen, knead in the chosen spice and roll the breadsticks. They should be about the thickness of a little finger, as they will rise again during baking.
- Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes and then dry at 150°C for about 20 minutes.
