Romanian Cheesy Breadsticks

• 500 g flour
• 350 g salty cheese (like feta or Hirtenkäse)
• 150 g butter (cold)
• 100 g sour cream (like Schmand)
• 3 eggs
• 2½ tbsp poppy seeds and/or sesame

Instructions

1. Grate or finely chop the cheese and butter. Mix everything except the toppings in with the flour with your hands (or with a kitchen machine using the dough hook) until it forms a homogenous dough that doesn’t stick to your hands a lot. Form a ball.
2. Optional: to make the dough easier to handle, you can refrigerate it from 15-20 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius.
4. Dust your working surface with some flour. Cut the dough in half. Roll out one of the halves into a 1 cm thick sheet (you can add some extra flour on the top side to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin). Use a pastry wheel or a butter knife to cut the sheet into a rectangle, then cut even strips of the dough. They should be about 2-3 cm wide. You can adjust the lenght to your preference (usually between 10 and 20 cm).
5. Place the strips on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Beat one egg in a bowl, and brush each bread stick with some egg. Then sprinkle all of them with sesame or poppy (or mix and match!)
6. Once the tray is full, place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough until all the breadsticks are baked.