Instructions

• Mix the water, sugar, and instant yeast in a bowl to bloom the yeast.
• Whisk together the flours and salt. Add the bloomed yeast-water and olive oil, and mix the dough until thoroughly combined.
• If using a stand mixer, continue mixing on low-med speed for 3-4 minutes. If mixing by hand, transfer the dough to a clean work surface and slap and fold the dough for 3-4 minutes. A video of this technique can be found here. The dough will not pull a windowpane, but it should get significantly stronger.
• Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, note the level of the dough, and let it expand to about double in size. In a cool kitchen, this took my dough 1.25 hours.
• Prep a 9x13-inch baking pan by lining it with parchment paper and lightly coating the paper with olive oil.
• Flip the dough onto the oiled parchment paper and press it flat until it fills the pan evenly. Cover the dough. (I used a cutting board.) Let the dough rise a second time for 45-60 minutes, until it is puffier.
• Prep toppings if desired: chopped rosemary, sesame and nigella seeds.
• Begin preheating the oven to 355F.
• Set up two baking sheets with parchment paper. The parchment paper currently under the proofing dough can be used for one of the two sheets.
• Lift the dough out of the baking pan using the edges of the parchment paper, and lay it on clean work surface. With a bench knife, cut the dough into 18-20 pieces along the short edge, about 1/2" thick. Then cut the rectangle lengthwise through the middle, so you have 36-40 pieces in total.
• Twist and gently stretch each piece of dough, then lay it on the baking sheet. Try to fit about half the pieces on each sheet. Let the dough rest and rise about 15 minutes uncovered, unless you plan to stagger baking the two sheets. Then put the first in the oven right away.
• Bake the grissini for 20-25 minutes, flipping each stick after about 15 minutes to brown the other side. If you bake both sheets at once, make sure to rotate the pans or use a multi-shelf convection setting.
• Store wrapped in cloth or in a covered container. If you live in a humid environment, you may need to re-crisp the grissini after a day.