Italian Bread Sticks

I may have mentioned before, Bailey is a bread monster! He loves bread in any shape or form, and these are a firm favourite. Lovely straight out of the oven as a little snack, or perfect as part of a picnic, or even in a packed lunch with fingers of cheese. As with most of my bread recipes I have used my Kenwood Chef with the bread hook for this but you could just as easily mix the dough by hand in a bowl.

INGREDIENTS
Makes about 30

350g strong plain white flour
1½ tsps salt
1½ tsps fast action dried yeast
200ml lukewarm water
3 tbsps olive oil, plus a little more for brushing on the dough
mixed seeds or coarse sea salt for coating (if liked)

Lightly oil 2 baking sheets. Place the flour, salt and yeast in the Kenwood bowl with the Dough Hook attached. Set to minimum speed and gradually mix in the lukewarm water and olive oil to form a soft dough and knead for 1 minute.
Increase the speed to level 1 for 4 minutes (or knead in a bowl until smooth and elastic – about 5 minutes in total).
Remove the bowl and cover with lightly oiled cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough to knock out any air bubbles for about a minute. Then roll out into a rectangle (about 8 x 9 inches)
Cut this rectangle into 3 rectangles (so 3 x 8 inches). Then cut each of these 3 rectangles into about 10 strips each measuring about 3 inches long.
Gently roll and stretch each piece to make a strip of dough so each piece is about 10-12 inches long.
Brush lightly with olive oil and roll in the mixed seeds or sea salt (if liked) or just leave plain with the oil coating. If the seeds fall off you can always sprinkle and push them into the dough in the areas where its needed.
Place on your prepared baking sheets, allowing a little space between each piece of dough. Cover with lightly oiled clear film and leave to rise for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 180 fan.
Remove the cling film and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes when the breadsticks should be nice and golden. Allow to cool on a wire rack.