These authentic Italian bread sticks are perfect for a party or for a snack while waiting for dinner to be served.
- 1 lb / 450 g high-gluten flour (like pizza flour)
- ¼ oz / 7 g instant dry yeast
- 7 oz / 210 ml milk
- 2½ oz / 70 g butter
- ½ oz / 14 g olive oil, plus more for brushing
- ½ oz / 14 g salt
- ⅓ oz / 9 g malt syrup
- 3 oz / 85 g cheddar cheese
- Combine flour and yeast. In a mixer fitted with the dough attachment combine milk, butter, olive oil, salt and malt syrup (all ingredients should be at room temperature). Add the flour and yeast and mix on low speed for 4 mins. Add the finely grated cheddar cheese and mix another 4 mins on medium speed. You should get very stiff dough. Cover the mixer bowl with cling foil and let it rest for 45 mins.
- Roll the dough into rectangles 12 in / 30 cm long and the width of a pasta machine rollers. Roll the dough through the pasta machine, starting at the thickest setting and decreasing it by one notch every time you pass it, until you get the desired thickness – around setting number 5.
- Line baking trays with parchment paper. Trim the edges of the dough and cut it into strips lengthwise using the fettuccine attachment of the pasta machine (or by hand). Lay the strips on the baking trays, making sure they don’t touch, cover with clean kitchen towel and proof for 30 mins. Brush with olive oil and scatter with sea salt.
- Bake in a preheated 350° F / 180° C oven with a fan for 9-11 mins, until golden brown. Cool completely on racks.
