Wickedly Easy Breadsticks

I need to stop making addictive baked goods.

Much like those pancakes I’ve been swooning over- these breadsticks did the exact same thing to me.  I had to keep going back into the kitchen for “just one more” because they really weren’t that good- were they?

This recipe came about because I wanted something different, but bread-like to accompany dinner.  I didn’t have time to whip up a batch of bread, we just had corn muffins, and I wasn’t in the mood for biscuits.  Dinner this night was a simple salad night, and breadsticks would be the perfect accompaniment while sitting in front of the TV watching the Olympians compete.   My usual breadstick is my Pizza Dough recipe, but that requires kneading time and rising time.  Surely I can come up with something that does without extensive kneading, and without extensive rising and shaping.

What do you know?  I came up with just the thing.  Sprinkle the top of these sticks with whatever you have on hand.  I used a combination of Garlic Salt, Penzey’s Brady Street Cheese blend, and Parmesan Cheese, and it was lip-smackingly good.  I used a light hand on all of them, and it was just enough to flavor the light sticks.  Well, that and the butter I suppose.

This is very budget friendly, and you can control the texture depending on how thick or thin you end up cutting the sticks.  For a thick and bready stick, cut the strips a bit wider, for a more crispy treat, cut them slimmer.  Either way- delicious.

Quick And Easy Breadsticks

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons melted butter

Garlic Salt, Parmesan Cheese, Pizza Spice, Sesame seeds,  etc. for topping sticks.

Add the yeast to a mixing bowl and add the water.  Stir to combine, and let it rest for five minutes.

Add the flour, salt and oil to the yeast/water mixture.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well-combined, and then turn out onto a counter that has been dusted lightly with flour.

Knead the dough just until it comes together and isn’t sticky.  Add more flour if necessary- but I didn’t knead for any more than a minute.

Sprinkle your counter with flour, set the doughball onto the flour, and then cover the ball with an inverted mixing bowl. (Or use plastic wrap.) Walk away for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375ºF and spray an 18 x 10 baking sheet with cooking spray.  Also, gather your melted butter and sprinkling supplies.

When 20 minutes is up, gently stretch and shape the dough into a rectangle approximately 8 inches wide by about 15 inches long.  Use a pizza wheel to cut your dough into about 15 strips.  Gently lift the strips one by one and set them on the baking sheet.  The strips will stretch a bit during the moving process- this is good, you want this.

Brush the tops of the sticks well with the melted butter and add whatever sprinklin’s your heart desires.

Bake in a 375ºF oven for 20 minutes.