Turin Extra Virgin Olive Oil Breadsticks | Grissini Torinesi all'Olio Extravergine

Sep 30

11 min read

Grissini Torinesi all'Olio Extravergine (Italian Turin Extra Virgin Olive Oil Breadsticks)

A grissino from Turin is nothing like the shrink wrapped stick sold in a supermarket. It is long, irregular, hand stretched, blistered and almost glassy, and it snaps with a sound you can hear across a dining room. This version is built around extra virgin olive oil, which does two jobs at once: it makes the breadstick break cleanly and it leaves a green, peppery perfume in a bread that otherwise tastes of little more than wheat.

Yield: about 40 breadsticks, 8 servings. Prep: 30 minutes. Rise: 1 hour. Bake: 25 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Region: Piedmont, Turin.

The Story

Every Turin restaurant table starts the same way, with a glass of water, a napkin and a paper sleeve of grissini leaning in the middle. The habit is more than three centuries old. According to the local tradition, the breadstick was born in 1679 in Lanzo Torinese, a small town in the Valli di Lanzo above the city. Antonio Brunero, a baker, was asked to make something for the young Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, a fragile boy with weak digestion. The court physician, Teobaldo Pecchio, had suggested that the child eat bread without the soft crumb, which he considered heavy.

Brunero took the local bread dough, the ghersa, a long loaf of the Piedmontese kind, and stretched it into thin strips that baked almost entirely into crust. The Piedmontese called them ghersin, little ghersa, and the name grissini followed. The duke grew up healthy and loyal to them, and the court made them fashionable. Napoleon is said to have developed such a taste for them that he had couriers carry them from Turin to Paris, calling them the little sticks of Turin.

Olive oil is the interesting part of the story here, because Piedmont has almost no olive groves of its own. The oil reached Turin from Liguria along the old salt roads, the Vie del Sale, which for centuries carried salt, anchovies and oil over the Apennines on the backs of mules and returned north with grain and cheese. The oil in a Turin grissino is therefore a border ingredient, a Ligurian gift folded into a Piedmontese dough. Older bakers added it instead of the lard used by cooks in the hills, and city bakeries such as the ones near Porta Palazzo made a virtue of it.

Today, the classic Turin breadstick comes in two families. The rubatà is rolled by hand, thick, uneven and rustic. The stirato is pulled out of a rectangle of dough to the length of the baker's arms, and sits closer to the original royal version. Both share the same purpose: a bread that behaves like a cracker, that carries a table through the first ten minutes of a meal, and that ties a cured slice of ham or a piece of cheese to the taste of the city.

Ingredients

For the dough

Bread flour, 4 cups (500 g)
Water, lukewarm, 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)
Instant dry yeast, 1 1/2 tsp (5 g)
Barley malt syrup or honey, 1 tsp (7 g)
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (10 g)
Fruity extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml), about 55 g

For shaping

Fine semolina, for dusting, 1/4 cup (40 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, for brushing the bench and the dough, 1 tbsp (15 ml)

For finishing

Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp (5 ml), brushed on the sticks after baking
Flaky sea salt, 1/2 tsp (2 g), optional

For serving

Prosciutto crudo, thinly sliced, 4 oz (115 g)
Toma piemontese, shaved, 4 oz (115 g)
Fruity extra virgin olive oil, for dipping, 1/4 cup (60 ml)

A note on the oil: choose one you would happily taste from a spoon, green in color, with a peppery finish, ideally from Liguria or the Piedmont hills. It is the only flavoring in the dough, so the bottle matters more than any other purchase for this recipe.

A note on the flour: a bread flour of moderate strength, around 12 percent protein, gives the dough enough elasticity to stretch to 10 inches without tearing. Softer flour tears, and a very strong one snaps back.

Preparation

Step 1: Mix and build the gluten

Whisk the water, yeast and malt syrup together in the bowl of a stand mixer and leave them for 5 minutes. Add the flour and the salt and mix with the dough hook on low speed for 2 minutes, then raise to medium and knead for 6 minutes. The dough should be smooth, firm and slightly tacky, and it should pull into a thin window without tearing. Keep the oil out of the bowl at this stage.

Step 2: Work in the oil

With the mixer on low, pour in the oil in three additions, waiting until each is absorbed before adding the next. The dough will look slick and torn at first and then come back together within a minute. Knead for 3 minutes more. The finished dough should feel silky and be a little softer than before, with a temperature around 77°F (25°C).

Step 3: Rise the dough

Form the dough into a ball, put it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it. Let it rise in a warm corner of the kitchen for 1 hour, until it is about 1 1/2 times its size. You are not after the doubling of a loaf. A short rise keeps the crumb tight and the sticks dense and crisp.

Step 4: Roll out the rectangle

Turn the dough onto a bench brushed with oil and dusted with semolina. Press it into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20 by 30 cm) and 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Brush the surface lightly with oil, cover it with a cloth, and let it rest for 15 minutes. This rest relaxes the gluten so it stretches rather than snaps back.

Step 5: Cut into strips

Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with two racks in the upper and lower thirds, and line two baking sheets with parchment. Using a bench scraper, cut the rectangle across the short side into strips 1/3 inch (8 mm) wide, about 40 in all. Cut them in one movement each, with a clean press rather than a sawing motion, so that the edges stay sealed.

Step 6: Stretch each stick

Pick up a strip by the ends and pull it gently to a length of 12 to 14 inches (30 to 35 cm), letting it hang and stretch under its own weight. Lay it on the tray, slightly wavy, with a thumb's width between neighbors. Irregular thickness is correct. It is what gives the finished stick blistered thin parts and a sturdier, browner center.

Step 7: Bake hot, then dry

Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 10 minutes, until the sticks are pale gold and have set into shape. Lower the oven to 320°F (160°C), swap the trays, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes more, until the color is deep golden and a stick snaps when you bend it. If one bends, it needs longer.

Step 8: Finish and cool

Brush the hot sticks very lightly with the finishing oil, and add a few flakes of salt if you like. Turn off the oven, prop the door open, and leave the trays inside for 10 minutes, so the last trace of moisture leaves the stick slowly. Cool completely on a wire rack before storing.

Plating

Turin serves grissini standing up. Choose a tall, narrow glass or a heavy ceramic jar and lean 10 to 12 sticks in it, tips up, so that the length of each one is visible. It is the gesture of the trattoria, and it keeps the sticks dry and unbroken until the moment someone reaches in.

For an antipasto, wrap a thin slice of prosciutto crudo or bresaola around the upper half of a stick and lay the sticks on a slate with a few shavings of Toma piemontese. For a soup or a bowl of bagna cauda, serve the sticks at room temperature, never warm, and let guests dip. A small saucer of the same oil used in the dough, with a pinch of flaky salt, completes the table.

Professional Technique

The whole character of this breadstick is decided by one number: the olive oil as a percentage of the flour weight. Here it is 11 percent, 55 g of oil on 500 g of flour. The useful window runs from about 8 to 14 percent. Oil coats the gluten strands as they form and keeps them from bonding to each other, which shortens the network, as with shortcrust. At 3 or 4 percent the stick bends and chews before it gives way. At 11 percent it snaps cleanly. Beyond about 15 percent the raw dough cannot hold its shape, the strips slump, and the sticks belly out on the tray.

This is also why the oil goes in after the gluten is built, not with the flour. Gluten forms when water reaches the proteins in the flour. If the oil is present from the start, it coats the flour particles and blocks that hydration, so the network never forms properly and the dough turns weak and greasy. Developed first, the gluten gives the dough the strength to be stretched to 12 inches, and the oil then shortens it. You get elasticity for shaping and brittleness for eating from the same dough, in that order.

Finally, the choice of oil matters far more than in a loaf. A grissino is thin, dry and almost all crust, so nothing dilutes the fat. A fruity oil with green, grassy and peppery notes stays audible in every bite. A neutral oil gives the same snap and no flavor at all. Pick a fresh, fruity Ligurian or Piedmontese oil, and skip one that is harshly bitter, because the bitterness concentrates in the bake.

Texture and Moisture Control

A good grissino has a moisture content near 3 percent, low enough to shatter and high enough not to taste of dust. The two temperature stages of the bake control this. The first 10 minutes at 425°F (220°C) set the crust and drive off the surface water rapidly. The second stage at 320°F (160°C) dries the inside without burning the sugars. Skip it and you have a golden stick that softens within an hour.

The thickness of each stick controls the crunch. Thin parts turn glassy, thick parts stay slightly tender at the center, and that contrast is what a hand made stick offers and a machine made one cannot. The oil film on the outside also acts as a moisture barrier, slowing the absorption of humidity from the air. This is the reason a well oiled breadstick stays crisp on the table for hours while a plain one softens.

Semolina on the bench matters too. It keeps the strips from sticking and adds a fine grit to the crust, but too much of it can taste raw. Tap off the excess after stretching.

Professional Mise en Place

Equipment and tools

Stand mixer with a dough hook, and a kitchen scale
Bench scraper and a large cutting board or clean counter
Two rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment
Pastry brush and a wire cooling rack
An instant read thermometer for the dough and an oven thermometer, since many home ovens run 25°F (15°C) off

Prepared ahead

The dough can be kneaded the day before and kept in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours, covered and lightly oiled
Weigh the flour, salt, malt and oil separately, and keep the oil at room temperature
Line the trays and heat the oven fully before the first strip is cut
Slice the prosciutto and shave the Toma only at the last moment, keeping both cold until then

Service setup

Store the cooled sticks in a tall airtight jar until the last minute
Have the cured meats, cheese and finishing oil ready to hand
Serve at room temperature, never straight from a warm kitchen
Keep a spare jar filled, because the first one empties quickly at a table of friends

Chef Tips

Weigh the oil. Volume measures vary, and a difference of 10 g moves the percentage by 2 points, enough to change the snap. Keep the dough slightly on the dry side: a wet dough stretches easily but collapses in the oven. If you plan to bake in two batches, keep the second tray of strips under a cloth, and cut and stretch it only when the first goes in.

Stretch with your fingertips, not your palms, so the warmth of your hands does not soften the surface. If a strip resists, rest it for 2 minutes and pull again. For a more rustic flavor, replace 50 g of the flour with fine whole wheat. Rosemary or fennel seeds can be pressed in before baking, but for this version the oil should stay the only flavor.

Bake one test stick first. Put a single strip on the tray while you finish stretching the rest, and bake it for the full time, so you learn how your oven colors the sticks before committing both trays. If it browns too fast on the bottom, slide a second sheet under the tray.

Common Mistakes

Adding the oil with the flour. The dough never develops its gluten and stays greasy and weak. Add the oil after the first knead, in three parts.

Using too much oil. Above roughly 15 percent the strips cannot support themselves, and the sticks spread and belly out on the tray. Weigh the oil instead of pouring.

Skipping the low temperature bake. The sticks look done but retain moisture, and bend after cooling. Keep going until one snaps.

Cutting with a saw motion. It drags the dough and seals the strips unevenly. Press the scraper straight down in one clean stroke.

Stretching everything to the same thickness. It looks neat and tastes flat. A little irregularity gives the crisp and tender contrast.

Storing warm. Trapped steam softens the sticks in an hour. Cool them completely on a rack first.

Using a bitter or stale oil. The thin, dry stick concentrates whatever the oil brings. A rancid or aggressively bitter bottle turns the whole batch harsh, so taste the oil before you pour it in.

Wine Pairing

Grissini sit at the start of a meal, next to cured meat, cheese and a glass poured before anything else is served. These five dry wines, all from the north west, fit that moment.

Alta Langa DOCG: A metodo classico sparkling wine from the Piedmont hills, and the natural aperitivo bottle. Its fine bubbles and crisp acidity cleanse the olive oil from the palate, while the yeasty, toasted note echoes the baked crust of the stick. Serve it well chilled, and it works equally well with the prosciutto.

Roero Arneis DOCG: A dry white with pear, almond and a light bitter finish. The almond note matches the wheat, and the moderate acidity keeps up with a slice of prosciutto without covering the peppery finish of the oil.

Gavi DOCG: Made from Cortese, it is lean, mineral and citrusy, with a saline edge that suits salted cured meats. Its clean, high acidity resets the palate between sticks, and its neutrality lets the fruit of the olive oil come forward.

Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG: A Piedmontese white with sharp acidity and flinty, lemony aromas. The still dry version cuts through the fat of a piece of cheese wrapped in the stick, and its firm structure holds up against the toasty crust.

Dolcetto d'Alba DOC: For those who want a red, this is the light and dry choice of Piedmont. Its soft tannin and cherry and almond notes are gentle enough for a breadstick, and it stands up to the salt of the prosciutto and the mild bite of Toma. Serve it slightly cool, at about 60°F (16°C).

Storage & Reheating

Once completely cool, store the sticks upright in a tall jar or in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 10 days. Do not refrigerate them, because the humidity inside a refrigerator softens them within a day. Add a small packet of dry rice at the bottom of the tin in humid weather.

The baked sticks freeze well for up to 2 months in a sealed freezer bag, but they are so easy to make that most cooks freeze the raw dough instead, wrapped tightly, for up to 1 month. To revive sticks that have softened, place them on a tray in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 5 to 8 minutes, then cool them on a rack. They will be nearly as crisp as on the first day.

Never cover the tray while it cools, and never reheat sticks in a microwave, which steams them and leaves them chewy. If you serve them with cured meat, wrap the meat around the stick at the table, not in the kitchen, because the moisture of the meat softens the crust in minutes.