Grissini Torinesi · Grissini Stirati Torinesi
Piedmont · bread · serves 8 · 150 min total · medium
Invented around 1679 by Antonio Brunero in Turin for the sickly young Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, who could not digest the soft crumb of bread. The thin, fully-dried sticks were the cure — and quickly became the symbol of every Piemontese table. Napoleon called them 'les petits bâtons de Turin' and had them shipped to Paris.
Ingredients
- 500 g strong bread flour
- 250 ml warm water
- 10 g fresh yeast
- 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 10 g fine sea salt
- 1 tsp malt or honey
- 30 g semolina, for dusting
Method
- Dissolve yeast and malt in water. Combine with flour, oil and salt; knead 10 minutes to a smooth, supple dough.
- Roll the dough into a 1 cm thick rectangle on a board dusted with semolina. Brush with olive oil.
- Cover and rise 60 minutes — the slab should be pillowy.
- Heat oven to 220°C (430°F). Line two trays.
- Cut 1.5 cm wide strips off the short end of the slab. Pick up each strip by both ends and stretch by walking your hands apart, letting gravity pull it to the length of the tray — 35–40 cm.
- Lay on the trays with a finger's gap between each grissino.
- Bake 16–20 minutes until pale gold and dry through. They must rattle when shaken. Cool on the tray.