This wasn’t originally on the menu for our first Dinner Club meet scheduled for tomorrow. But I was digging through my freezer and found some turkey ham and, since breadsticks usually get included in pizza meal sets, I decided to make these as well.
They keep well for a couple of days, so I made these a day ahead of the meet. Man oh man they’re good; simple yet addictive, I had to stop myself from eating them all before tomorrow. Just be warned that if you don’t have much patience, rolling them out and stuffing them one by one might drive you nuts.
Based on the recipe by Emeril Lagasse.
Turkey Ham Breadsticks
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water (I usually mix 1/4 cup hot water with 3/4 cup room temperature water)
- 3 cups plain flour, plus more for kneading
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 250 grams turkey ham, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- Freshly cracked black pepper
Directions
Place the yeast in your breadmaker pan or a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until the yeast is dissolved. (I usually do this to test any old instant yeast I have in my larder, to know if is still working).
Add 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, and the salt. If using a breadmaker, start the Dough program.
If not using a breadmaker, stir well to combine. Continue stirring, or mixing by hand, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and comes together.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead until it forms a smooth, elastic ball, 3 to 5 minutes.
Grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm draft-free place and let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (fan 180 degrees C).
When the Dough program is finished, OR when the dough has doubled, remove the towel and divide the dough in half. Keep covered the dough half that you are not working with, and divide the portion of dough on your work surface into 12 equal-sized pieces. Cover the dough pieces with a damp towel.
Line an 11 1/2 x 16-inch sheet pan with parchment paper. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll the dough into a long thin rope by rocking your open palms over the dough in a back-and-forth motion (basically, gentel macam nak buat keropok lekor). The dough rope should be 6 to 8 inches long.
Use a lightly floured rolling pin to flatten and stretch the dough to about 12 inches long, and about 1 1/2 inch wide. Don’t worry even if the dough gets really thin. Place 1 tablespoon of the chopped turkey ham along the center of the flattened dough, bring the edges of the dough up over the turkey ham, and pinch to seal.
Using your fingertips to hold the two ends, gently swing the dough back and forth like a jump rope to make a log 13 to 14 inches long. Be careful-the seam where the dough was pinched may come undone. Simply pinch the dough again and gently stretch it until it reaches the desired length.
Lay the breadstick on the parchment-lined sheet pan, tucking the seams underneath, and continue the process with the remaining 11 pieces of dough.
Once you have all the breadsticks rolled and stuffed, use a pastry brush to brush 3 tablespoons olive oil over them, making sure to use up all of the oil.
Season the breadsticks with cracked black pepper, and place the sheet pan in the oven. Continue making breadsticks with the remaining dough and turkey ham.
Bake the breadsticks until light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot or at room temperature.
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