Grissini Grandeur Barbuto's Heather Miller shares the secret to slender, crisp breadsticks.

VETERAN PASTRY CHEF Heather Miller has been making grissini at Barbuto, New York's West Village institution, for as long as she can remember. 

- PAIGE GRANDJEAN

GRISSINI

Jonathan Waxman opened the restaurant in 2004, and the golden brown, olive oil- and salt-adorned breadsticks have been a staple on the menu ever since. "The recipe hasn't really changed over the years," says Miller. "People love them, it workswhy change it?"

Grissini are long, pencil-thin, crispy breadsticks with a crackerlike crunch that have been made in the Piedmont region of Italy since the 1600s. At Barbuto, Miller leans on high-quality ingredients and a series of simple steps to consistently churn them out night after night. "Sourdough starter is key for flavor. It adds complexity and takes the elemental dough up a notch," she says.

Once the dough is rolled and cut into long ropes, it's ready to be baked. "The trickiest part of the recipe is nailing the doneness," Miller advises. "I twice-bake them in order to strike a balance between texture and color." We followed Miller's method, giving the grissini an initial bake that dries them out to help create their snappy texture and then a second bake at a lower temperature that gives them a golden brown color. For a finishing touch, Miller rolls the grissini in a fruity Portuguese olive oil, Herdade do Esporão, that soaks into the porous crackers.

We found making the grissini with sourdough starter, as Barbuto does, produces the best flavor, but because starter can be challenging to source, the F&W Test Kitchen also created a workaround using a biga, a stiff mixture of active dry yeast, flour, and water. Left to ferment at room temperature for a few hours, it takes on a mild, sourdoughlike tang.