Thursday, July 15, 2010

Gluten-Free Parmesan Pretzel Sticks

Gluten-Free Parmesan Pretzel Sticks



Our assignment, for our "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes," baking group, was to use the gluten-free cheddar sesame dough to make breadsticks.  It took me awhile to remember to do this project, because I kept thinking about the dough that got dropped from the loaf I made the prior week!

It was 4 days past the "bake by" date, when I remembered the rest of the dough was in the garage refrigerator.  I wasn't sure it would work, but I thought I'd give it a try. I put a lot of time and money into that dough already, and wasn't going to waste it if possible.  

The dough seemed fine, except that it was a bit watery.  Adding a bit of rice flour thickened it up nicely...

I started out by sprinkling my workspace with rice flour, so that I could roll out the dough:


I then rolled out the dough and cut it with my bench knife:

The handle on the bench knife makes it easy to grip it, and then move the sticks to the baking pan:




I seasoned the pretzel sticks with a bit of kosher salt and grated parmesan cheese.  They looked great after baking!



These were soooo addictive, and we just loved them!  My husband has requested that I make them again!  He calls them the best ever pretzel sticks, so that's what I am going to call them. 


Handwise and time saving tips--

I think that these pretzel/bread sticks use your hands a lot, and may not be possible for some people with hand pain.  So I'd like to focus on organization tips, which may be helpful to everyone:



I think it's important to take some time, when setting up, to think about putting what you need around you.  Minimize the stopping and starting to find things...


See the trash bag that's hanging from the counter?  It's hanging from a purse holder.  Someone gave that to me to hang my purse from a table in a restaurant.  I use it for "dry trash."  I've repurposed it here, so I don't have to run to the trash under the sink all the time.


I also try to keep a container for eggshells and other wet trash.  Sometimes, it's just an empty container from large yogurt.

Measuring ingredients on my scale is really fast for me, so that's one of the first things I pull out when I bake.



Of course, it's helpful to have a large kitchen where you can plop a card table and throw stuff on it for improptu baking!  We don't eat in our kitchen, so this is my extra baking room.  My cookbooks are behind the table.


I like putting some flour in this shaker, before I put the larger flour of container away.  It's helpful for me in sprinkling flour onto dough or the mat.  I like it so much that I think I will find a larger shaker for my all purpose flour,  which I use more, and use this one for whole wheat.


If you mix with a food processor, add a small amount of soapy water and run it to clean the blade. Then, remove the blade and put a small waterproof tube, such as from a 35mm container, over the opening.  

You will then be able to fill up the food processor a lot more to soak:




 


I like to keep a dough bucket or bowl of soapy water nearby for my used tools.  I throw them in the soapy water as I go.  That's important for me, because my dishwasher isn't efficient for a lot of my utensils:


We have a dish drawer.  While people oooh and aahh over it, it's not easy to use.  It fills up quickly! Most of the time, we hand wash and use it as an expensive dish drainer.  

So soaking helps speed up cleanup! 


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will leave a comment or tip below. 

If you would like to see what my bread baking friends have done with this recipe, click on this link:  15th Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes Baking Braid


6 comments:

  1. Some great ideas for people with hand pain. Love the purse holder idea for a convenient trash bag!

    Your pretzel sticks look super-duper!

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  2. I thought these were very good as well, though mine were bread sticks. And no disasters?

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  3. Thanks Michelle! I am trying to give back to this helpful group! Thinking up the handwise tips really gets me thinking about how I am doing the baking.

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  4. Great looking pretzel sticks, maybe I should have tried this recipe.

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  5. Thanks, Elwood!

    I think it was a lot of work, but we really loved the taste. I wonder if the breadsticks would work with the pesto bread dough? I have some in the freezer still.

    Thanks for the nice feedback.

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