Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks #BreadBakers

Crunchy and savory, these cheddar poppy seed bread sticks make the perfect munchable for snack time or even happy hour, with a cold glass of beer or wine of any color.

Here in the Channel Islands, we are blessed to have several well-stocked grocery stores, as long as the weather is fine, that is. One really starts to realize the limitations of living perched on a rock in the middle of the English Channel when storms come through and ships with fresh supplies are canceled for a few days. That’s when my deep freezer really comes into its own.

Along with all of the frozen foods, I also keep a stockpile of spices, nuts, flours and seeds in there. When our original Bread Bakers host for this event, Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen proposed bread with seeds as our theme, I was excited. In Dubai, my home for six years until this past April, it is illegal to own poppy seeds. My current freezer has not one but two bags of the crunchy black seeds.

Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks

To make these bread sticks, I use a stand mixer but you can certainly do it by hand if you have the muscles to knead bread dough.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose plain flour
1 teaspoon dried instant yeast
2/3 cup or 156ml lukewarm water
Pinch sugar
2 1/2 oz or 71g extra mature cheddar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon canola or other light oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Method
Finely grate your cheese and set aside a few tablespoons or so for sprinkling on the bread sticks before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, measure in the yeast and add the lukewarm water, the pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of the flour. Leave to proof for a few minutes.

When the mixture starts to foam up, sift in the rest of the flour and the salt, then add the bigger pile of cheese to the bowl. Mix well until a dough forms.

Knead in 2 tablespoons of the poppy seeds.

Keep kneading, either by hand or with your bread hook, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Form a ball of the dough and lightly grease the bowl with the canola oil. Roll the dough ball in the oil to coat.

Cover the bowl and place it in a warm spot for about 45 minutes so the dough will rise.

When the dough has just about doubled, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare two baking pans by lining them with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Punch the dough down and tip it out onto a clean work surface lightly sprinkled with flour. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Roll each out into a long thin stick about 12 in or 30cm long, transferring the finished sticks to the baking pans as you go.

Brush the sticks with the melted butter and sprinkle them with the last teaspoon of poppy seeds and the reserved grated cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until nicely golden and puffy. They turn really lovely and crunchy as they cool.

If you have any melted butter leftover, give them another dab. No worries if you don’t. They don’t really need it but I hate to waste melted butter! I had enough to do maybe half of the sticks.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Check out all the great seeded breads my fellow Bread Bakers are sharing today!

• Amaranth and Honey Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Brioche Buns from Simply Inspired Meals
• Cheddar Poppy Seed Bread Sticks from Food Lust People Love
• Dinner Rolls With Seeds In Paper Tea Cups from Sneha's Recipe
• Everything Sourdough Bagels from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gluten Free Amaranth Crackers from Anybody Can Bake
• Gul Poli-Tilgul Poli - Jaggery and Sesame Seeds Stuffed Indian Flatbread from Cook With Renu
• Nordic Stone Age Bread from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Poppy Seed Rolls from Ambrosia
• Seeded Sourdough Boule from Bread Therapy
• Seeded Turmeric and Leek Levain from A Messy Kitchen
• Sesame Scallion Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Wholewheat Poppy Seed Dinner Rolls from Sizzling Tastebuds

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here.  Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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