Great Bloggers Bake Off Week 2: Marmite and Parmesan Breadsticks

This week's Great British Bake Off was bread week. Hmm. Yes. I have never made any form of bread in my life. On the TV show, they made Grissini (breadsticks), English Muffins and a showstopper loaf of bread. A showstopper would be a bit too ambitious for me, seeing as I don't know the first thing about making bread. English muffins... now don't laugh... but I only like them with the MacDonalds sausage patty, cheese and egg in! So Grissini / breadsticks it is. They look easy right? (really really wrong!)

So my first batch... came out too fat, and therefore bendy.

My second batch... were all different lengths.

My third batch... I burnt. They are so hard, I'm pretty sure they could be used as a
weapon!

My fourth batch... actually came out okay. They have the infamous "SNAP", they were all the same length and they kept their twisty shape. You can taste the Marmite and the Parmesan, but not too strongly. That'll do Donkey!

So here we are...

Ingredients
280 ml warm water
7g fast acting dry yeast
1tsp sugar
75g strong white bread flour
~~~~~~~~
60g finely grated Parmesan
425g strong white bread flour
1tsp salt
sprinkling ground black pepper
1 tsp Marmite
1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Method
1. Mix the warm water, with one sachet of fast acting dry yeast and the sugar. Add 75g strong white bread flour, whisk and leave to stand for ten minutes.

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.

3. Put the dough in a large bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm dark cupboard for 20 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough. It needs to be very thin as it will rise more in the oven.

5. Cut into strips 1/2 an inch wide and 10 inches long, and either twist or roll. Place them on a lined baking tray and bake at 170 degrees (fan assisted) for 20-25 minutes.

So now I just need a dip to go with them! If I were to make them again, I think I'd add more Parmesan and more Marmite. If I'm completely honest though... making breadsticks is a lot of work for something you can buy in the shops for 99p.
Linking to The Crazy Kitchen and Mummy Mishaps for the GBBO linky.