Friday 12 April 2013

Garlic and chilli ficelles

What is a ficelle? Erm will my French is non existent so I am going to go with a kind of soft breadstick.

Whatever it is it is extremely tasty alongside soup, salad, your evening meal or as a nibble with a glass of wine. Yes, I tried all these combinations!

The recipe is adapted from Paul Hollyood. His involved truffle, I do not have truffle oil! Not yet anyway...

Garlic and chilli ficelles

250g white bread flour
packet of fast action yeast
tsp salt
200ml tepid water
garlic clove
2 tbsps chilli oil
dried oregano 

You will need a dough hook for this recipe. Either attached to a free stading mixer or as part of a hand held whisk. Put the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl. Add ~2/3 of the water and using the dough hook mix slowly until a dough starts to come together. 

Add in the remaining water and continue to mix for at least 5 minutes, the dough should be smooth and stretchy. 

Either crush the garlic clove or finely grate it and add to the bowl along with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Mix for a further two minutes.

Oil a 2 litre rectangular container, I used a Tupperware, and transfer the dough. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size (mine took ~1 hour)

Flour a work surface well and tip the dough out. Do not knock it back, you want to keep as much of the air as possible. Gently stretch into an even rectangle.

Cut into 8 equal strips, then gently stretch each strip to ~25cm long. Be careful the dough is very soft and delicate.

Lay each ficelle onto a baking sheet, you will need two, lined with baking parchment. Use your finger to make a few indentations along the length of each one. Leave in a warm place until risen again. I left mine 1/2 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C FAN. Brush each ficelle with the remaining chilli oil and sprinkle with a little dried oregano. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden.

These are wonderful warm from the oven. Paul says they are best eaten within 24 hours and I agree. I made them one evening and refreshed them through in the oven before having leftovers the following lunchtime.

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