Grissini dough calculator
Hand-pulled Torinese breadsticks: 10% olive oil, one short rise, baked until dry.
Grissini torinesi stirati — Turin’s hand-stretched breadsticks, from the canonical formula of the Simili sisters: an olive-oil dough with a deliberately high yeast dose, one short rise, and strips pulled by hand to the length of your pan. Crisp comes from thinness and a dry bake.
How it works
The dough
Water 53%, a generous 10% olive oil — the signature enrichment — with 1.6% salt, ~1% malt for color, and a full 3% fresh yeast. That dose is intentional: grissini ferment briefly and bake dry, so the yeast is there for lift, not for flavor development.
One rise, in a slab
Press the kneaded dough into a flat, oiled slab, brush with oil, dust with semolina, and let it rise about an hour — once. No punch-down, no second proof: the slab is the shaping stage.
Cut and stretch
Cut finger-width strips from the short end and stretch each by hand to pan length — stirati means “stretched”, and the uneven, knobbly result is the authentic look. Bake until fully dry and golden (the Simili sisters at 180–200 °C for 16–18 minutes) — a bent grissino should snap, never fold.
Sources & methodology
Every percentage in this calculator traces to the published sources below — nothing is invented. Where respected sources disagree, the default sits inside the documented range.
- Sorelle Simili — grissini torinesi stirati (read via Una mamma in cucina) — The chosen formula from the Bolognese sisters: 53% water, 10% olive oil, malt, one short rise, strips hand-stretched and baked dry.
- Viva la Focaccia — grissini fatti in casa — Cross-check: 57% water, oil 10.7%.
FAQ
Why so much yeast?
Because the schedule is minutes, not hours: 3% fresh yeast raises a dense, oily dough in a single short rise. Long fermentation would add nothing — the breadstick bakes too dry and thin to showcase it.
Can I roll them instead of stretching?
Rolled sticks come out uniform and slightly denser; stretching thins the strip unevenly, which is where the shattering texture and rustic look come from. It takes one batch to learn.
How do I store them?
Fully dried grissini keep for a week or two in an airtight container. If they soften, five minutes in a moderate oven re-crisps them completely.
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