Chocolate-Dipped Breadsticks

Louise Thannhauser
Aug 2, 2016
3 min read

After my recent attempt of recreating Mikado chocolate sticks, I decided that I needed to give it another go. This time however, instead of using a biscuit base for the sticks, I used a thin Italian bread stick recipe. Although they still didn't have quite the snap I was after, they were a lot closer to the shop bought ones than my last attempt and I am happier with the outcome.

As I had more time and patience today, I decided to temper the chocolate to give the sticks a more substantial finish as well as stopping them melting in your hands as you eat them!

For the sticks (not including the chocolate), I used a recipe from the Kitchn blog by Dana Velden which makes about 40 thin Italian Grissini Bread sticks.

Makes 40 sticks | 1h30 prep time including proving time |cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the bread sticks

65g whole wheat flour

180ml warm water

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp active-dry yeast

190g cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp good extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

Oil for the bowl

For the decoration

300g milk chocolate, chopped

50g white chocolate, chopped

chocolate sprinkles

Method

Proof the yeast: in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the whole wheat flour, water, honey and yeast. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine and let sit for 10 minutes. The mixture should be foamy and show some liveliness.
Add the remaining ingredients. Add the all-purpose flour, olive oil, and salt. Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment until combined, and then on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and shiny.
Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and transfer it to a small bowl. Drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil over the dough and roll it around until it has been coated. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and let sit undisturbed in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in bulk.
When the dough is ready, preheat your oven to 220°C and line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Shape the dough into a rough, flat rectangle. Slice a finger-sized piece from the long length of the rectangle with a sharp knife or a bench scrapper. Roll it into a long, thin snake and place on the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough, placing the dough snakes about 1/2" apart.
Keep an eye on them and take them out when they are golden brown.!Bake the grissini. Place the baking sheets with grissini into the oven and bake for 5 to 10 minutes. At 5 minutes, rotate the pans and check their progress. The grissini are quite thin, so they will burn easily.
Carefully move the grissini to a cooling rack to cool.
To temper the milk chocolate, place 2/3 of it into a heat proof bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Using a chocolate thermometer, first melt the chocolate to 32.5°C. When the chocolate has reached this temperature, remove the bowl from the heat and place it on a kitchen towel. Add the remaining chocolate a little at a time until the pieces cease to melt. Allow the chocolate to continue to cool down until it reaches 27-28°C. Then, bring the temperature back up to 30°C by placing the bowl back over the pan.
To coat the bread sticks with chocolate, pour the chocolate into a tall glass and carefully dip in each stick, tapping off any excess and then placing them on grease proof paper until set.
To temper the white chocolate, follow the same process in step 8 but use different temperatures. First melt 2/3 of the chocolate to 30.5°C, then cool to 27°C adding the rest, and then heat back up to 28°C.
Place the tempered white chocolate in a piping back and snip a small hole at the end. Drizzle the chocolate over the bread sticks. Finish by sprinkling with sprinkles!