Grissini (Breadsticks)

1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl; make a well in the centre.
2. Cream the yeast with half the lukewarm water until smooth. Pour this into the well in the flour and make a thick batter with some of the flour. Sprinkle a little flour over the batter, and leave to ‘sponge’ for 20 minutes.
3. Add the remaining oil and lukewarm water to the batter and mix in the remaining flour, kneading to a fairly firm dough. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead dough until smooth.
4. Return dough to a clean bowl, lightly greased, cover with a damp tea-towel and leave to rise until double in size, about an hour or so. Preheat oven to 230 ºC.
5. Knock back dough with knuckles and roll out on a floured work surface to a large rectangle about 5 mm thick. Using a sharp knife, cut rectangle in half to make two, long narrow rectangles. Slice each rectangle into strips 1 cm wide. Using your hands, roll and stretch each strip until it is about 25 cm long.
6. Place on the baking sheets and bake for 12 to 20 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your grissini. Halfway through baking time, quickly roll over the grissini so that they brown evenly.
Makes approximately 46-50 grissini.