It's been a long time since I made them... I spend hours looking back at the recipes I wrote while watching TV... Today's recipe was explained to us by our Administrator Vittorio Viarengo, the famous

HAND STRETCHED TORINESE BREADSTICKS

(STOLEN).

I'll start immediately with the ingredients, of which I'll provide you with the full dose:

Ingredients: water 320 g - flour 560 g - malt or sugar 4 g - oil 60 g - dry yeast 7 g - salt 12 g.

Finishing: Fioretto flour or rice flour 150 gr. (as usual, I used half the dose).

Preparation: in the bowl of the mixer, dissolve the yeast in the water, add the extra virgin olive oil, malt or sugar, half the flour, and start kneading. Then add the salt and little by little the remaining flour. Knead for 10-15 minutes to obtain a smooth and elastic dough.

First leavening: dust the pastry board with flour, roll up the dough, cover it with cling film to prevent it from forming a crust, and covered with a cloth, let it rest for 20 minutes.

Then flatten the dough with your hands, fold twice to give it strength, then roll it again to develop the gluten. Flatten it slightly into a rectangle shape and make a roll 8 cm wide.

Then take some transparent film that is twice as large as the rectangle of dough, grease it with oil, and place the dough in the center which will then be brushed with oil, always so that it does not form a crust.

Second leavening: cover the dough with transparent film and a cloth. Leave to rise until doubled for 45-60 minutes, depending on the temperature. Meanwhile, prepare a dish with Fioretto or rice flour on top.

Remove the film from the pasta, cut it into small 2 cm wide loaves, with a tarot spatula, in one fell swoop. Deposit each piece of dough in the Fioretto flour, then, one at a time, place them in the prepared pan, lined with baking paper, or on a baking rack, and pull the loaves with your hands, 4-5 cm from the center, and pull them towards the ends.

(It makes me smile when I think of when, as a little girl, I went to buy breadsticks from the local baker, Mrs Fila, in Piverone (Turin), and I saw them being prepared on long boards which then went into the oven. And when I had to take them home, very long ones, my grandmother scolded me if I broke them on the road. I have never seen breadsticks of that length again).

Before baking them, place a saucepan with boiling water in the oven to increase the humidity of the oven, which must be preheated to 230 degrees. Once baked, they should be cooked for 8-10-12 minutes depending on the type of oven. Halfway through cooking, remove the saucepan and let the steam out to dry the breadsticks well.

Thanks to our Vittorio Viarengo who, with this excellent recipe, made me feel like a child again in Piedmont in the 1940s.

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Credits: Fiammetta Cruciani, Viva la focaccia Fan Club, Facebook®