Quick and Easy Breadsticks

Making bread is awesome! It really is... But what's not awesome is the fact that you usually have to start it hours or sometimes even a day before you know you're going to want to eat it... When I'm not feeling up to that long of a wait, but still want homemade bread sticks with dinner (because who wants to get out of pjs and run to the store at 4 in the afternoon? Lol.), I make this recipe.

The best thing about these bread sticks is that you basically mix the dough together, wait for ten minutes (instead of the usual hour or two), put them on a pan, wait for ten more minutes (which, let's face it, is basically how long it takes for the oven to heat up... or at least for our 1950's oven to heat up, haha!) and then they're ready to bake!

These are so much faster to make than other recipes I've tried that can take up to 3 hours of just letting them rise in a warm place. And honestly, I'm usually in a bread baking mood in the winter when I've barricaded myself inside away from the snow and the house is only 63... (gotta love MBA tuition costs! Haha!) The biggest dilemma this usually leaves me with is finding a warm enough place for the dough to rise... Luckily, this bread dough can rise right in its bowl on the counter. Which is perfect!

To make these bread sticks, put 1 Tablespoon of active dry yeast and 1 1/4 cups warm water in a bowl. Stir it with a spoon a few times and let it sit for a few minutes for the yeast to dissolve and activate.

Next, add 2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2 1/2 cups of flour. You can use whole wheat flour (which I've done before), but they're definitely lighter and fluffier with all-purpose flour. Mix the ingredients together with your hands (or a stand mixer if you have one) for about 3 minutes. If the dough is a little too sticky as you're mixing it, you can add up to a cup more of flour. I usually end up adding about 1/2 of a cup.

Once you're done mixing, leave the dough in the mixing bowl at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Next, separate the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece out into a long breadstick. Lay the breadsticks on a greased baking sheet as you go.

After the breadsticks are on the pan, wait for 10 more minutes. Then, spread melted butter on the bread sticks and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garlic salt over the top.

Bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes, or until just browned on the tops.

Variations:

Little Caesar's style Breadsticks:
The original recipe (which actually comes from my BYU cooking class just like my fruit dip recipe and Easy Garlic Bread recipe do) says to roll it out flat onto a greased baking sheet and use a knife or pizza cutter to cut it into strips on the pan. Sprinkle garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese on top and let sit for 10 more minutes before baking them for 15-20 minutes. Cut them again along the same lines and serve.

Pizza Dough:
Yet another variation is to use this dough as pizza dough (which I've also done when I get a late start on dinner and had my heart set on pizza. Lol.) To do this, just roll it out to your desired size and place it on a baking sheet that has been greased and then coated in corn meal. Since John's mom does that when she makes pizza, that's how John likes his pizza... When it comes to cooking, he's a Momma's boy ;) so it's a good thing she's a great cook who doesn't mind sharing her recipes! Haha! Let the dough sit on the pan for about 10 minutes while you get your pizza toppings ready. Put your desired toppings on the pizza dough and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I love how versatile and fast this recipe is! I have also made them with whole wheat flour and twisted them into hearts in the past for Valentine's day to make a type of garlic knot (with minced garlic, parsley and butter on top).

There are really a lot of ways you can use this dough and it makes me glad that I agreed to take at least one fun class in college with John, since that's where we got this recipe! It was definitely worth it!