Cheese Breadsticks

I noticed whenever we were at hotel buffets, the boy is always so contented with the breadsticks. However it's uncommon anywhere else. Hence I thought of baking some for the boy, those crunchy kind. He loves bread but loves it even more if it's crunchy.

The ever so reliable food-4tots.com has a recipe, in fact for both the crunchy and soft kind. Although crunchy kind is just plain breadsticks, no worries, just add cheese into the recipe.

The link: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/

Below recipe is pretty much the same as the link with some (very) slight adjustments by me, indicated with * with italic font.

Recipe for Simple/ *Cheese Breadsticks
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨-美食讲堂系列 - 白锦霞 ( (*as per food-4tots.com)

Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
*100g grated cheese (I used Coon Extra Tasty)

Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. *Add in almost all the grated cheese (remaining to be sprinkled later) is added into the dough and knead till well mixed.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
6. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
7. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
8. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
9. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
10. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
11. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. (*Sprinkle the remaining of the grated cheese) Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip. (*My dough is kind of elastic and not able to stay in the twisted form. In the end I'd resorted to rolling them and to ensure that the grated cheese remained on the dough)
12. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
13. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes. (*actually I totally forgotten to leave it in the oven, without heat for another 2 min, but the result is still good)

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C). (*I used about 2/3 of tap water and 1/3 of hot water)
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
• - The Kitchn
• - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).

This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps.

On the cheese breadsticks post, the blogger had also included other video on the kneading technique. So I had used the membrane method as well as the 2 fingers poke test (to make sure the 2 fingers poke remains at the dough) to ensure that the dough is done with kneading.

My results and most importantly, the boy eats non-stop:

 Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞 - See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.ElSArZP6.dpuf

RECIPE FOR SIMPLE BREADSTICKS
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞
Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
5. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
6. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
7. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
8. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
10. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip.
11. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
12. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes.

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C).
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
   • - The Kitchn
   • - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).
8. This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps

- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.l5QVuMYE.dpuf

RECIPE FOR SIMPLE BREADSTICKS
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞
Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
5. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
6. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
7. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
8. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
10. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip.
11. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
12. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes.

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C).
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
   • - The Kitchn
   • - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).
8. This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps

- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.l5QVuMYE.dpuf