Sunday, February 28, 2010

Grissini and Feta/Olive loaf

This morning I wanted to use up the remainder of my whole wheat olive oil bread dough from the Healthy Bread in 5 book. I'd been eying the recipe for Grissini (thin little bread sticks) for some time and this is one of the doughs that is supposed to be good for it. It seemed that when I weighed the dough I had twice as much as I needed (about 1/2 lb is all that is needed). So now I needed to make two things to round out our March 1 bread braid from the book. (I know...I am veering off the schedule here).

So I rolled the dough out about 1/8" or so thick and about 8 x 12" rectangle and used my pizza wheel to make approximate 1/4" or thinner cuts in the dough. It makes 24 according to the recipe so I divided accordingly. I place them all on a Silpat on my baking sheet and dabbed on the olive oil, sprinkled half with kosher salt and rosemary and the other half with kosher salt and Herbs de Provence.

I popped them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until brown. They turned out great and even better tasted great. I will make these again........especially when I have a small amount of dough left over from the basic un-enriched doughs.


Since I had some more dough left...about the same as before ... I just improvised by rolling it out on a pastry cloth, added drained and blotted Spanish olives w/ pimento, feta cheese crumbles and some turkey bacon from a package in the fridge. I rolled it up and popped it in a loaf pan with a piece of parchment under it. I brushed with the remaining olive oil from the brushing on of the grissini and left covered for about a hour and a half. It didn't rise much. I had been warned by others in the bread group their bread didn't rise much either. I think my loaf pan was also too large. I baked until it was over 200 degrees but I think it could have baked a little longer. The crumb is dense and it could be browner....but I LOVE the savory ingredients in this bread.

While all this was going on I figured I should make a pot of lentils with Canadian bacon and veggies..
Yum Yum good...lentils and home-made breads.

 

18 comments:

  1. Hum...wonder what happened to my pic of the little grissini being cut :>/

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  2. Your breads look wonderful.........love the bread sticks!!!

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  3. Great job! The grissini look wonderful. I may have to try those soon!

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  4. You are getting too good Cheryl! Love the idea of using turkey bacon, feta cheese and olives to stuff the dough!

    I make breadsticks but I've not tried Grissini before. Great idea to use up the small leftover dough.

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  5. Your grissini is beautiful! The breadsticks are gorgeous - so long and thin! I don't think I've made breadsticks before, I'll have to keep them in mind!

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  6. What a great idea to use up those "Leftovers" that we all have. I love your bread idea.

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  7. I love making bread sticks with left over dough too. Great job!

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  8. Grissini are absolutely perfect for this dough! What a great idea. Yours seem to have turned out wonderfully. I also really like the stuffed bread idea...such good ingredients.

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  9. Great idea, those grissini. I'll remember them the next time I make WW dough. I made a stuffed bread too, but a bit different.

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  10. I loved the Grissini when I made them with left over dough from pizza! Your stuffed bread sounds and looks great!

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  11. What a great idea to make Grissini. I'll have to try that! Your stuffed bread sounds fabulous! Delish!

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  12. I was scared or the grissini because the crackers where soso. Now I will give them a try.

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  13. The breadsticks make a wonderful, edible centerpiece. I'll have to give them a try sometime.
    ~Jenny~

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  14. Love those breadsticks! I'll have to try making them.

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  15. The breadsticks and the bread both look great! Very creative!

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