Italian breadsticks

These are delish- crispy and tasty. I like them brushed with a good olive oil before they go in the oven. Nice to eat these with a steaming bowl of soup or pasta. I made this recipe out of the cook book, "Secrets of a Jewish Baker". These breadsticks are best when eaten fresh out of the oven. You can always warm them up again if you want to eat them later.

1 cup warm water
1 heaping teaspoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sucanat
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and allow a few minutes to soften. Add the sucanat, oil, 2 1/2 cups of the flour, and the salt. Stir until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl, adding more flour 1/4 cup at a time if necessary.
Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Knead with a turn, fold, push motion, adding more flour in small amounts if the dough is sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes).
Transfer to an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in volume.

Punch down the dough, form into a rectangular shape, cover, and let rest for about 10minutes.
Using a dough cutter or a pizza knife, cut strips out of the dough. Roll these strips of dough out on a lightly floured surface into nicely shaped long sticks.
Place the sticks on a baking tray which is lined with parchment paper. Keep some space between the sticks because they puff up and double in size in the oven. Brush the sticks with olive oil.
Bake the sticks immediately without allowing to rise.

Bake the sticks in a hot oven of 200 C/400F. Turn the sticks over during baking so that they get an even colour on both sides. They are ready when they are golden brown. Depending on how thick you made the sticks this will take around 20 minutes. Keep watching the sticks so that they don't burn.