Make your own dough!
Ingredients:
150g La Punt, Goat Peter’s cheddar-style hard cheese
40g butter, softened
160g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder (optional)
Milk as required
Flour as required
Method:
Grease a large baking tray with butter. Preheat the oven to 190°C / gas 5.
Grate the cheese and place it in a mixing bowl.
Cut the butter roughly into cubes - this makes it easier to work with - and cream the two together. Don't worry if it looks a bit of a mess, this is a very rustic snack!
Add the flour and the salt to the bowl, and the 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard, for a stronger flavour.
Mix all the ingredients together to make a dough. Usually you'll need to add milk until it comes together, but make sure you add very small amounts at a time.
If the dough is now sticky, put a small amount of flour onto the mixture (too much and you’ll dry it out) and lightly knead it in your hands.
Now you’ll have what appears like a bread dough.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough, using a floured rolling-pin, to a thickness of 3mm.
Cut off the rough edges of the rolled out dough to make a square/rectangle. Cut the square into about 7cm long and 3cm wide strips.
Hold both ends of a strip and twist one of your hands to make a twist in the strip, this will make it resemble a double helix, then transfer to the baking tray. Do this with all the strips.
If you want a shiny glaze on your cheese straws, use a greasing brush to distribute small amounts of egg over each cheese straw; but it is not absolutely necessary.
Place the cheese straws in the oven for 15 minutes, or until they have puffed up and are golden-brown. Use a palette knife to scrape them off the baking tray. You don’t need to wait for this treat to cool! Place the cheese straws in a bowl and garnish with a dusting of flour. They taste great warm, but they are still very pleasant served cool. Enjoy!
Tip:
Don't worry if the cheese straws are slightly burnt around the edges, this adds colour and texture and should not be considered as a bad thing.
CHEESE STRAWS
Made with ready-rolled puff pastry.
Ingredients:
350g Puff pastry
4 handfuls grated Grison Goat Peter’s Italian-style hard cheese
1 handful flour to roll pastry on
Method:
Heat oven to 220°C / gas 7.
Unroll the puff pastry, scatter over a couple of handfuls of grated Grison, then fold in half.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out to the thickness of 2mm.
Cut into 1cm strips, then twist the strips 3-4 times.
Lay on a baking sheet, scatter over more cheese and bake for 12 minutes, or until golden.
Leave to cool, then keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days. As these cheese straws are very delicate, roll them in kitchen paper before packing into a plastic container.