Italian Turin Sesame Breadsticks | Grissini Torinesi al Sesamo
Grissini are the bread Turin gave the world: long dry sticks that snap cleanly and taste of wheat, olive oil and toasted grain. This sesame version is stretched thin, rolled in seeds while the dough is still fresh, and baked slowly until the crust turns the colour of a hazelnut and the seeds smell of warm nuts.
There is no egg wash and no glaze, only good technique.
Yield: 36 grissini, 6 servings. Prep: 30 minutes. Rise: 1 hour 10 minutes. Bake: 28 minutes. Total: about 2 hours. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: bread and appetizer. Region: Piedmont, Turin.
The Story
Grissini were born in Turin, and the date usually given is 1679. The story goes that the young Duke Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy was a delicate child who could not digest ordinary bread, and that his physician, Teobaldo Pecchio, asked the court baker Antonio Brunero, from the town of Lanzo Torinese, for something drier and lighter with almost no crumb. Brunero took the local loaf called ghersa, stretched it by hand into long thin sticks and baked them until crisp. The duke thrived, and the bakers of Turin never stopped making them.
Within a century the stick had become a Piedmontese institution. Bakers stretched it along the length of their arms, and the word stirato, pulled, still names the slender version that separates it from the thicker, irregular rubatà. Napoleon is said to have loved grissini so much that he kept couriers riding between Turin and Paris to bring them fresh, and he called them the little sticks of Turin. Today they stand in a glass on the table of nearly every trattoria in the city, and a basket of them arrives before anyone has ordered. The city bakers guarded their methods for generations, and a good grissino was judged by its length, its lightness and the sound it made when it broke.
Sesame belongs to this story by way of the Mediterranean. It has been baked onto bread around that sea for thousands of years, and Piedmont, a region of hard winters and mountain flours, took it up as an easy way to add fat, flavour and crunch to a plain dough. The sesame grissino is the one Turin bakers pile in the window beside the plain ones, and the seeds are the reason it smells of toasted nuts the moment it leaves the oven. In Turin it sits in the bread basket at the aperitivo, eaten with a glass of something cold and dry before dinner, and it has never needed anything else beside it.
This recipe follows the Turin method for the dough, a low hydration mix of bread flour, semolina and olive oil rather than lard, and it treats the sesame as an ingredient with its own rules. Those rules decide how the seeds are attached, how the oven is set and how the sticks are dried, and they are what make these grissini crackle instead of scorching. Follow them and the sticks come out even, golden and crisp from end to end.
Ingredients
For the dough
Bread flour, 3 cups (380 g)
Fine semolina, 1/3 cup (55 g)
Lukewarm water, 1 cup plus 1 tbsp (255 ml)
Instant yeast, 1 tsp (3 g)
Fine sea salt, 1 1/2 tsp (9 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Barley malt syrup or honey, 1 tsp (7 g)
For the seed coating
Hulled white sesame seeds, 3/4 cup (105 g)
Fine semolina for the work surface, 2 tbsp (20 g)
For finishing
Flaky sea salt, 1 tsp (3 g)
Extra virgin olive oil for the bowl and trays, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Ingredient notes
Use a strong bread flour with about 12 percent protein, so the thin strips hold together when pulled. Fine semolina, not coarse, gives the crunch without a gritty bite. The malt syrup feeds the yeast and adds a touch of colour, and honey works if malt is hard to find. Choose fresh sesame from a shop with quick turnover, because old seeds taste flat and slightly bitter. Olive oil should be a mild, fruity extra virgin, since a peppery one turns sharp in a hot oven and dominates a plain bread.
Oven
Two rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment, oven at 350°F (175°C)
Preparation
Mix the dough
Whisk the flour, semolina, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Stir the malt syrup into the lukewarm water, pour it in with the olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains. The dough will look rough and slightly stiff, which is correct for a hydration of about 58 percent. Tip it onto the counter and let it sit for 5 minutes so the flour can absorb the water before kneading. This short pause makes the dough easier to handle and saves you from adding extra flour.
Knead and rest the dough
Knead for 8 minutes, pushing away with the heel of your hand and folding back, until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticks to your fingers. Put it in a bowl brushed with a little oil, cover it and leave it at room temperature for 45 minutes, until it looks puffy and has grown by about half. It will not double, and it should not. A dough that has risen too far is harder to stretch thin.
Roll out and cut the strips
Dust the counter with semolina and pat the dough into a rectangle about 12 by 9 inches (30 by 23 cm) and 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick. Use a knife or bench scraper to cut it lengthwise into 36 strips, each roughly 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide. Cover the strips with a towel and work with six at a time, so the ones waiting stay soft and slightly tacky.
Stretch each strip and roll it in sesame
Spread the sesame in a long shallow tray. Take a strip in both hands, stretch it gently to about 12 inches (30 cm), and lay it in the seeds at once. Roll it back and forth under your palms, pressing lightly, until it is evenly coated and as thick as a pencil. Do this straight after cutting, while the surface of the dough is still fresh. Lay the finished stick on the parchment, spaced 1/2 inch (1 cm) apart.
Proof the sticks briefly
Leave the coated sticks uncovered for 20 minutes while the oven heats to 350°F (175°C). They will look slightly swollen but not risen, and that is all they need. A long second rise would make them bready and soft inside, when the aim is a thin crisp shell with an open, dry crumb.
Bake low and turn the tray
Slide both trays into the oven, one on the upper and one on the lower rack, and bake for 28 minutes in total. At the 14 minute mark, swap the trays and turn each one around so the back sticks face the front. The sesame should be pale gold and fragrant at that point. Lower the heat by 15°F (10°C) if any seeds are darkening at the tips.
Dry the grissini in the switched off oven
When the sticks are a deep honey colour, turn the oven off, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave them inside for 10 minutes. This drives out the last moisture from the centre. Move them to a wire rack and sprinkle each with a few flakes of salt while still warm. They finish crisping as they cool, and they should snap cleanly when bent.
Plating
Serve the grissini upright in a tall straight glass or a narrow ceramic jar in the middle of the table, the way Turin does, with the sesame side out and the ends at different heights so the bunch looks generous rather than tidy. Keep a small bowl of olive oil nearby for dipping.
For an aperitivo, wrap one stick around a slice of prosciutto crudo or lardo, or set a bundle beside a board of young Toma, robiola and a few slices of salame. A small dish of good olive oil with flaky salt is all the seasoning they need. Serve them at room temperature on a dry wooden board, never near steam, and pass a fresh basket rather than letting one go stale on the table.
Professional Technique
The technique that defines this recipe is getting the sesame to stay on the stick without egg and without burning it. Sesame sticks only to a surface that is fresh and slightly moist. That is why each strip is stretched and rolled in the seeds the moment it is formed, while the dough is still soft from cutting and handling. Left to prove first, the dough grows a dry skin, and the seeds bounce off it or fall away in the oven.
Egg wash and water are not used as glue. Egg browns long before the bread is done and cooks the seeds into a glossy shell that scorches at the edges. Water beads on the crust, so the seeds slide, and it turns to steam that leaves the coat patchy. The dough itself is the glue, and the seeds are pressed in as it is stretched. Nothing else is needed, and nothing else works as well.
The second point is heat. Sesame is about half oil, so it browns and turns bitter well before the bread has dried. This is why the oven stays moderate at 350°F (175°C) and the bake is long, rather than hot and short, and why the tray is turned at the halfway point to even out hot spots.
Learn to read the seeds. Properly toasted sesame is pale gold to light amber, dry, and smells sweet and nutty. Overdone sesame is dark brown, shrivelled, slightly shiny with released oil, and smells sharp and acrid. If the tips look bronze early, lower the heat at once. Pull one test stick and break it: the seeds inside the coat should be gold, not brown.
Texture and Moisture Control
A grissino is a moisture problem before it is a baking problem. It should finish with a crumb almost as dry as the crust, so that it snaps rather than bends. Three things build that texture. The dough is stiff, at about 58 percent hydration, so there is little water to remove. The semolina adds a fine grit that fractures cleanly. The olive oil shortens the crumb, giving a light crunch instead of a hard, glassy one.
The strips are thin, so heat reaches the centre quickly, but the surface still colours faster than the middle dries. The 10 minutes in the switched off oven fix that mismatch. The residual heat evaporates the last water without darkening the sesame further. Skip it and the sticks look ready and go limp within an hour.
The sesame layer has its own texture. A single even layer of seeds crackles and toasts. A thick, clumped layer steams underneath and stays raw and soft against the dough. After baking, cool the sticks on a rack, not on the tray, so steam escapes from every side. Test one after 10 minutes, and if it bends instead of snapping, return the batch to a 300°F (150°C) oven for 8 minutes.
Professional Mise en Place
Grissini are quick once the dough is ready, so the setup decides how well they turn out. Cutting, stretching and coating 36 sticks takes about 25 minutes, and the dough must not dry while you work, so everything must be within arm's reach before you start.
Equipment and tools
Two rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment
Bench scraper and a sharp knife for cutting even strips
Long shallow tray for the sesame
Wire rack, oven thermometer and a clean cotton towel to keep the waiting strips soft
Small dish of water for wetting your hands only if the strips begin to dry
Prepared ahead
Dough kneaded and rested up to 8 hours in the refrigerator, then brought back to room temperature
Sesame measured into the tray, with the semolina for dusting beside it
Trays lined with parchment and the oven position set to the middle
Oven checked with a thermometer, since many ovens run 25°F (14°C) off
Service setup
Sticks fully cooled before they go into a glass
Flaky salt added while warm, never after cooling
Board, olive oil and cheese prepared just before guests arrive
A spare tin for leftovers, filled only when the sticks are cold
Chef Tips
Use hulled white sesame for a clean, sweet flavour. Unhulled seeds give a darker, more bitter result and brown much faster, so lower the oven by 15°F (10°C) if that is what you have. Toast them lightly in a dry pan for 2 minutes first if you want a deeper flavour.
Cut the strips to the same width. Thin ones burn while thick ones stay soft, and even a 2 mm difference shows up in the oven.
Stretch with a light hand. If a strip springs back, rest it under a towel for 2 minutes and try again. Forcing it tears the dough and leaves bald patches for the seeds to miss.
Bake one test stick first. Cool it for 3 minutes, taste the seeds and check the snap, then adjust the time for the whole tray. Ovens differ, and a single stick tells you more than any timer.
Common Mistakes
Coating after the proof. By then the surface has dried and the seeds will not hold. Roll each strip in sesame as soon as it is stretched.
Using egg wash or water. Egg browns and burns the seeds, and water slides them off. The fresh dough is enough, and it keeps the crust clean and evenly gold.
Baking hot and fast. At 425°F (220°C), the sesame scorches before the middle dries. Keep the oven at 350°F (175°C).
Never turning the trays. Ovens have hot spots, and the back sticks will darken and taste bitter. Turn the trays at 14 minutes and swap the racks as well.
Skipping the drying step. Sticks taken straight from the oven feel crisp but soften as steam moves out. Leave them 10 minutes in the switched off oven, then let them cool on a rack.
Overworking the strips. Rolling and stretching them repeatedly warms and toughens the dough, and the coat goes on unevenly. Handle each strip once or twice, then put it down.
Wine Pairing
Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG: A Piedmontese white from the hills north of Turin, with sharp citrus acidity and a mineral finish. The acidity refreshes the palate after the olive oil, and its almond note follows the toasted sesame closely. It is the wine of the Turin hills, so it sits naturally beside a Turin bread, and it stays crisp even with a salty topping. Its acidity is high enough to make each mouthful of bread taste fresh again.
Roero Arneis DOCG: Dry and softly aromatic, with pear and white flower notes over a light bitter finish. The gentle body will not overwhelm a bread this delicate, and it suits cured meats and young cheese on the board. Serve it well chilled, because its floral character fades quickly when it warms.
Trento DOC: A dry metodo classico with fine bubbles and a saline edge. The carbonation cleans away oil and salt between bites, and its yeasty, toasty notes echo the sesame and the crust. It works especially well when the grissini are served with prosciutto, since the acidity cuts the fat of the ham. A good bottle finishes clean, with no sweetness to blur the sesame.
Dolcetto d'Alba DOC: The dry Piedmontese red for the salame and lardo end of the board. Low acidity, soft tannin and almond bitterness on the finish suit the seeds without covering the wheat. Serve it slightly cool, at about 60°F (16°C), so its fruit stays fresh and never feels heavy against such a light bread.
Storage & Reheating
Cool the grissini completely, then store them in an airtight tin or a glass jar at room temperature for up to 10 days. Keep them away from the refrigerator, which is humid and turns them soft. Adding a folded paper towel to the container helps absorb stray moisture. Never store them while even slightly warm, since trapped steam softens the crust within a day.
To revive sticks that have softened, spread them on a tray and heat them at 300°F (150°C) for 6 to 8 minutes, then cool them on a rack. You can freeze the baked sticks in a sealed bag for 2 months, and refresh them the same way from frozen. The raw dough can stay refrigerated for 24 hours before cutting, but baked sticks keep better than dough.
Nutrition
Per serving, 6 grissini, based on 6 servings:
Calories: 430 kcal
Total Fat: 20 g
Saturated Fat: 3 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 17 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 590 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 52 g
Fiber: 4 g
Total Sugars: 1 g
Added Sugars: 1 g
Protein: 12 g
Lactose: 0 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, folate, thiamin
These figures are estimates and vary with how much sesame stays on the sticks.
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