Freshly baked Parmesan & herb breadsticks
Lovely chunky rustic cheese & herb breadsticks make a great quick snack and are perfect for dunking into a nice dip like our red pepper hummus or lemon & herb ricotta dip.
This easy breadstick recipe is brilliant for cooking with kids – as long as you’re not too fussy on the size and shapes and settle for a rustic look! Think of it as an edible play-doh session.
To make our easy cheesy breadsticks with herbs we first went out into the garden to pick some herbs. We used thyme, chives, marjoram and rosemary in the breadsticks – these are herbs which grow really happily in pots in a sunny spot in the garden and require no effort!
To mix up the easy breadstick dough – just add the bread flour, salt and dried yeast to a mixing bowl.
A mini kitchen helper
Then add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingers – a little bit like making crumble topping. Once the butter is rubbed in – tip in the grated parmesan and chopped herbs and mix together with a fork. Then slowly blend in the warm milk and gradually mix into a stiff dough with the fork and then knead the dough together with your hands. Children LOVE helping out with this bit!
My mini helper making bread dough
The dough then needs covering with cling film and leaving in a warm place for at least an hour to prove, then give it a quick knead for a few minutes and then leave it to prove again for around an hour.
Making the breadsticks is easy – tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface – only a dusting of flour. Roll out to around 1cm thick then cut into 1cm strips – roll each strip between your hands into a rustic stick shape and place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Children really love to help make these ‘wormies’!
These then need to be left in a warm place for around 30 minutes before baking at 160C for around 15 – 20 minutes until brown.
Bread sticks ready to bake
Once cooked – allow to cool and then you can keep them in an airtight container for around 4-5 days. They make a fab packed lunch snack with hummus or tomato sauce to dip them in and rather lovely as a little nibble instead of a sugary biscuit… Super popular with the smallest boy!
Super easy cheesy breadsticks - great for cooking with children.
Ingredients
- 300g bread flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 50g butter
- 50g parmesan - grated
- handful of herbs - finely chopped we used rosemary, thyme, chives and marjoram
- 150ml warmed milk - just warm not hot!
- olive oil to grease baking trays
Instructions
- Add the bread flour, salt and yeast to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture using your fingers - like making crumble topping.
- Stir in the grated cheese and chopped herbs - use a fork for this job.
- Slowly pour in the warmed milk and mix using a fork to a stiff dough.
- Knead the bread dough with your hands to make a nice pliable dough.
- Cover the mixing bowl with cling film and leave bread dough to prove for 1 hour
- Knead the dough for five minutes then return to the bowl, cover and leave to prove for another hour.
- Roll dough into a large sheet approx 1 cm thick and then cut into 1cm wide strips - around 10cm long.
- Roll each strip between hands into a breadstick shape and put onto a lightly greased baking tray.
- Leave breadsticks in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.
- Then heat the oven to 160C and bake for around 15 - 20 minutes until browning.
Notes
Fab in lunchboxes or as a healthy snack with dip.
Make breadsticks your way…
Use this recipe as a base and take your cheesy breadsticks into different directions – make it your way.
- be more cheesy – use different cheeses, really strong cheddar or blue cheese work well.
- spice it up – add some chilli powder or cayenne pepper to the mix
- healthy – use wholemeal bread flour – stir in some sesame seeds.
A fab lunchbox recipe.
