Feature Ingredient: Poppy Seed
Poppy seeds are an oilseed and come from the poppy plant, opium poppy. The seeds contain many minerals, including iron, copper and calcium and are less allergenic than other nuts and seeds (allergy to poppy seeds are rare). Poppy seeds have also been recorded in history, in Ancient Egypt, in the Minoan civilisation during the Bronze Age in Crete, and in Sumerian civilisation.
Today, poppy seeds are found in various cuisines such as European, Jewish and Indian; they are used as a spice and decorative feature to pastries, as we'll discover today. They can also be ground into a paste, which is then baked within pastry. Poppy seeds can also come in different colours, black, white and blue. Sometimes, white poppy seeds are preferred over the other colours, when being used as a thickener to the dish, as they impact the colour of the dish minimally.
Today, we'll be using black poppy seeds in making Grissini, an italian breadstick; I followed a combination of these two recipes:
Recipe: Poppy seed and Parmesan Grissini
Serves 5
Ingredients:
20g poppy seeds
30g parmesan, grated
400g white flour, sifted
1 tsp dried yeast
250ml warm water
1 tsp honey
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, and additional to brush onto bread sticks
3 tsp, and additional to taste
Method
- Mix the yeast with the honey and warm water in a bowl; allow the yeast to become frothy.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and pour the yeast mixture and olive oil.
- Mix, then knead the dough for about 8 minutes and then shape into a rectangle like shape, on a floured surface. Cover the dough with oiled cling film or a damp tea towel; allow the dough to rise for about 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Cut the dough into 2 separate pieces, with the first piece, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Then, cut the dough into smaller rectangular pieces, about 2.5cm wide x 5cm long.
- Repeat step 4 with the other piece of dough and substitute poppy seeds with parmesan.
- Slowly and carefully stretch each of the small rectangular pieces until they are long and thin, more or less the length of your forearm. Twist the piece to create twirls in the dough, and place onto a baking tray. Repeat this step with every other dough piece, length of the dough can vary.
- Preheat the oven to 160˚C and bake for 5 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Some photos whilst making Grissini:
Sprinkling the poppy seeds onto the dough.
(I suggest covering your bench/worktop with cling film for easy cleaning of stray poppy seeds)
Dough with grated parmesan (yet to be sliced into pieces).
Poppy seed and parmesan breadsticks that have been twisted and twirled - ready for the oven.
End result! Warm, golden and crunchy.
Ratings/Comments:
Price: 5/5
Difficulty: 2/5
Taste: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
(1 being lowest/not good - 5 being highest/best)
The grissini were great! I personally preferred the parmesan grissini over the poppy seed ones, which were a bit more messy, as the parmesan made them taste a bit like pizza (and who doesn't like pizza?). The breadsticks are easy to make and look awesome on the dinner table, they can also last quite a few days! They're a fun and light appetiser to be munching on whilst chatting with friends and are widely enjoyed; I shared them with my friends who agreed,
"Great for snacking and I just couldn't get enough of the them! Delicious." - Tina W.
This recipe can be mixed up by adding other ingredients to the grissini such as sesame seeds, rosemary and many other spices and seeds. A tip for this recipe would to be to keep watch at your oven and perhaps check on minutely intervals, as the breadsticks are quite thin and will cook fast! Make sure to swap the sides of the baking tray if you find that your oven cooks faster on one side than it does on the other, otherwise you'll be left with burnt grissini, and we definitely don't want that...
- C
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