Poppy Seed Bread Sticks

How to prepare poppy seed bread sticks

1. Dissolve the yeast in 125 ml warm water and let it sit in a warm place for 10 minutes, just until it forms a little foam on the surface.
2. In a bowl, put 200 g flour and make a well in the center. Pour the dissolved yeast there and knead, slowly pulling the flour into the liquid, until you have a smooth dough (after the dough came together, I kneaded it for another 2 minutes with a stand mixer). You'll get a dough that's neither very firm nor soft... medium texture. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
3. Dissolve the sugar and salt in the remaining 125 ml warm water.
4. Put the remaining flour (300 g) over the risen dough and add the water from step 3. Knead again until you have a smooth dough. Then continue kneading the dough, constantly oiling your hands with the warm oil. Do this until you've used all the oil. Continue kneading until the dough is very elastic and no longer feels oily (can also be kneaded in a bread machine or 5 minutes in a stand mixer).
5. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for another 1 hour.
6. Turn the dough onto a work surface dusted with a little flour. Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces (about 80 g/piece).
8. Roll each piece into a rectangle of approximately 20 x 10 cm. Gently pull the corners to make the sheet as rectangular as possible.
9. Roll the sheet lengthwise. Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. I placed two sticks next to each other without crowding them and left about 2 cm distance between each pair of sticks, to give them room to rise. The formed sticks will seem small and thin, but don't worry, they will rise and "puff up" in the following steps.
   * at the end I added an adjustable frame around the rolls to keep them better positioned in the tray
10. Put the tray in a plastic bag and let the sticks rise in a warm place for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C.
11. Mix the water and flour for the topping. Brush the sticks with this mixture. Sprinkle poppy seeds on each stick.
12. Put the tray in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200°C. Bake the sticks for 20-25 minutes, until golden on top.
14. Dissolve the sugar in the water for the syrup. As soon as you take the tray out of the oven, brush the hot sticks with syrup.
15. Let them cool completely. The sticks will separate easily from each other. Store covered with plastic wrap. They stay just as fluffy the next day.

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