Quick and Easy Breadsticks

This year Olivia participated in the Food and Bread Show for 4-H. She and I looked through Pinterest to see if there was a recipe she wanted to make. She saw a pin for Quick and Easy Breadsticks that led to Jamie Cooks It Up.

The breadsticks are the first yeast bread that Olivia made. She was very happy with how they turned out. The recipe makes 36 breadsticks. However, she cut her breadsticks into squares so there are 72 bread squares. They're easier to eat...and, like the girls said, you can have more because they are smaller.

Ingredients

1 1/2 C warm water
2 T sugar
1 T yeast
1/2 t salt
3 1/2- 4 C flour
1/4 C butter (not that nasty margarine crap)
3/4 C grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese (Olivia used mozzarella)
Johnny's Garlic Seasoning (Olivia used Kingsford garlic seasoning - Tucson flavor)

Directions

Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in a measuring cup or in the bottom of your mixer. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and the flour, one cup at a time, until it is well incorporated. Mix on high for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Melt the butter and pour half of it into a jelly roll pan. (Olivia used a cookie sheet since we didn't have a jelly roll pan. She also would recommend spreading the butter around the cookie sheet so the breadsticks in the corner don't stick.)

Place the dough in the center of the pan. Let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Letting the dough rest makes it much easier to shape.

Spread the dough out flat onto the pan until it reaches all of the edges. Doing all of the spreading and cutting of these bread sticks, in the pan makes cleaning up your counter so much easier. 

Pour the other half of the butter onto the dough. Spread it around with your hands. Sprinkle the Johnny's Garlic Seasoning all over the dough, and then the mozzarella cheese.

With a pizza cutter cut the dough into three rows lengthwise, and then into about 12 little height wise rows.

Put the pan into a 170 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes. The breadsticks should rise about 1 inch.

Turn you oven up to 350 and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

When they come out of the oven let them sit and rest again for about 5 minutes. Then redefine your cutting lines with the pizza cutter. (Olivia said that the lines were not that clear because she cut the dough before putting on the cheese since I missed that part when reading the recipe to her as she made it.) So, she cut them into 72 squares which actually worked out well. The bread squares are easy to handle and are a good size.