I made a batch of these breadsticks a few months ago and yesterday I realized I was ready for a few more. These are great plain as snacks or with a nice marinara sauce for dipping or as a side with pasta. The slight tartness of the olives adds a nice balance to the sweetness of the bread. My problem is I eat too many.

These breadsticks are easy to make. The only tricky part is cutting, handling and shaping the slack dough. After rising, the dough is soft, sticky and wet. Use a LOT of flour on your work table and generously dust the top of the dough before you gently form it into a rough rectangle about 16″ x 14″. Cut the rectangle in half (two 7″ smaller rectangles) then cut each of those into about 1″ strips, avoiding dissecting any olives. Use your bench knife and separate the first strip by flicking it onto the flour next to the dough rectangle. Pick it up with flour dusted fingers, place on the parchment-lined baking sheet and stretch it to about 10″ and try to straighten. I was not totally successful in straightening the breadsticks, but it doesn’t hurt the flavor.