Recipe Index: Jody Adams

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Walnut Breadsticks

Pizza dough lends itself to quick homemade breadsticks and crackers (never throw away leftover dough for this reason). These breadsticks incorporate chopped walnuts and fresh herbs, but you can play with a wide array of other ingredients. Fiery-food lovers can sprinkle the dough with red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. Finely chopped cooked bacon, prosciutto, ricotta salata, crumbled feta, and chopped olives are also good. I've even rolled cooked lentils into the dough. Pick only a couple of ingredients for any one batch of breadsticks or their tastes begin to muddle. Keep the quantity of any add-ins down to a cup per half-pound of dough and chop them quite fine, so the breadsticks don't fall apart.

• About 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 recipe Pizza Dough (page 123), cut into 4 pieces and allowed to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes
• Flour for rolling out the dough 1 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (such as basil, parsley, thyme, tarragon, etc.)
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Rub a large sheet pan with a light coating of olive oil, 2 to 3 teaspoons.

2. Roll out each piece of pizza dough on a lightly floured surface into a rough rectangle 4 to 5 inches wide and about 8 inches long. Rub each rectangle of dough with a teaspoon of the olive oil. Sprinkle each one with 1/4 cup of the walnuts, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the herbs, 1 tablespoon of the cheese, and salt and pepper. Roll over the ingredients with the rolling pin to press them into the dough.

3. Slice the dough lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide strips. Grasp a strip of dough by both ends and give it 4 or 5 twists while stretching it, until it's about 10 to 12 inches long. Set the twisted strip down on the sheet pan. (If the dough seems to he stretching only in the middle, lay the strip down and do a couple of ministretches in the thicker spots to even things out before you twist the dough.) Repeat the process with the remaining dough. You should get about 2 dozen breadsticks.

4. Bake until crisp and golden, about 10 minutes. Allow the breadsticks to cool completely before serving. They'll keep overnight in a tightly sealed container. Don't refrigerate or they'll become soggy.

Makes about 24 breadsticks

From In the Hands of a Chef by Jody Adams and Ken Rivard. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. HarperCollins Publishers.