Grissini is the Italian word for breadsticks. After making the dough and letting it rise in the bread machine, they are hand shaped by rolling the dough out to a desired length and then baked at a high temperature in an oven. They look very different than machine extruded breadsticks which all look exactly alike; they are charmingly nobby and irregular. You want to bake these until they are crisp, otherwise, if they are soft like bread, they will bend and break when you stand them in a crock to serve. If you are unsure about freeforming, use a bread stick tray, which is a series of very thin cradles. Eat as an appetizer buffet, eaten either plain with butter, or wrapped with smoked turkey or proscuitto.
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Whole wheat bread is the mainstay of the baker’s kitchen. Until you have mastered whole wheat bread you cannot say you are a bread baker. The easiest whole wheat bread is a 50-50 blend of whole wheat and white flour: it makes the dough easy to work with and gives a high rise. Use fresh flour, as fine a grind as you can find, for the grind will dictate the overall texture. Remember when kneading to leave the dough a dash sticky, as the whole grains will absorb it during the rise. This is real old fashioned home baking at its best and is perfect made in the terracotta bread pans.
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When asked about a bread that typifies Muslim Northern India and Afghanistan, naan, which is also the generic word for bread in those areas, is the first one that comes to mind. It is also trendy; every Pacific Rim restaurant offers it because of it’s buttery flavor and moist texture. The long oval breads are baked in a tandir oven, which is a deep clay floor oven. The shaped dough is placed on a gaddi (cushioned pad) and baked by slapping them onto the walls of the oven while one end hangs out over the fire, making a pretty teardrop oval about 20 inches in length.
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