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The secret of this recipe is to use butter and Parmesan. Yoy can make cheese starws with other cheeses but Parmesan offers the best mix of flavour, acidity and salt for a relatively low leve of fat. Butter? ?Yes real butter made only from milk. Any mixture of buter and oil just isn't good enough and wil not work as well.

Ingredients

Plain white flour

Salted butter (accept no substitutes)

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan (accept no substitutes)

1 medium egg, whisked preferably goose egg as it creates a really glossy finish

You will need:

Baking tray/s

Pizza cutter

Cooling rack/s

An oven preheated to 150C, gas mark 4 or 300F

Weights are proportional, just scale up should you want to make more. As a rough guide you'll need about 50 gram, 2oz of Parmesan for each 100 gram, 4oz of flour.

For each measure of plain flour weigh out half of that in butter so for each 100 grams of flour measure out 50 grams of butter. Substitutes for butter are not allowed.

Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour until you have created a consistent mixture.

The next bit is the important bit

Slowly add cold water and mix in until you have a soft and pliable dough.

This bit is also very important.

Cover and allow the pastry to rest at room temperature for at least thirty minutes.

When the pastry has rested roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 3mm or 1/8 of an inch thick.

Finely grate a thin layer of Parmesan on to the pastry.

Pat the cheese down then fold the left and right sides in to form three layers.

Roll this pastry mix out again and repeat the process twice more.

Anyone who has made any pastry before will be reading this and wondering whether I am in fact playing some sort of bizarre practical joke; but I am not.

The pastry will now be about as pliable as leather, which is perfect; honestly.

With the pastry rolled out wash with the egg yolk. Next grind pepper and sea salt crystals over the egg wash. Now cut the pastry into strips no more than 6mm (1/4inch) wide and carefully lay them on to the baking trays. I ought to point out that you should not dust the baking trays with flour to stop the straws from sticking as they will not stick.

Next, place the baking tray into the top of the oven and keep an eye on them. After ten minutes take a peek and see how they are getting on. When they are in danger on going from rich brown to burnt toast remove them from the oven and lay out on the baking trays.

They will have risen and will stay crunchy for three or four days in a tin at room temperature. If they start to lose their crunch put them in a low oven for five minutes to drive the moisture out though I have never had to do this as they do nto survive beyond the second day.

As an alternative to just sea salt and pepper as a pre bake dusting add in some finely chopped rosemary or herb of your choice, or seeds such as fennel or celery.

Learn more about this author, Ian Pauley.
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