I kind of think these easy homemade breadsticks have actual magical powers. Seriously. These bad boys have helped me make instantaneous friends at church functions when I’m the new girl and made sad people happy. They’re easy to whip up and even easier to customize. Garlic bread seasoning? Yes. Cinnamon sugar twists? Yes. There’s nothing that’s not great on a warm twisty breadstick. This is also fantastic as homemade pizza dough! If you’ve got a backyard pizza oven, you should also check out my Neapolitan Style Crust, which is my go-to for home pizza ovens.
I use this basic recipe for so many things–pocket sandwiches (like Hot Pockets, only not gross), breakfast pocket sandwiches, pizza crust, pizza on the grill, pizza pockets, whatever. One major advantage is that this dough is very, very forgiving. If you’re just getting started, we recommend, checking out these tips on how to work with yeast dough, but this is a great dough to start with if you’re a yeast dough virgin or if you’ve had bad experiences working with yeast in the past.
how to make them
To get started, you’ll need some yeast, sugar, and warm water. The water needs to be about 105-115 degrees F, which you can measure with a thermometer if you want, but I always say water hot enough that would feel like a hot shower but not so hot you wouldn’t want to wash your hair or your face in it. If it’s not warm enough, the yeast won’t activate and if it’s too hot, the yeast will die. The sugar feeds the yeast.
In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water,
sugar, and yeast.
Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.
Add salt
and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour
and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl
and it barely sticks to your finger.
Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
before
after
While the dough is rising, line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Remove from bowl and place on a surface sprayed with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter.
Roll out each piece of dough into a snake about 18″ long, then drape the middle of the “snake” over your forefinger
and twist the dough.
Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly, but it’s okay if they’re close; pulling apart hot bread is one of life’s greatest pleasures!
Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes.
When there’s about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425. When done rising, bake for 12-15 minutes (it will depend on your oven) or until golden on top.
Rub some butter on top of the breadsticks (just put a ziploc bag on your hand, grab some softened butter, and have at it) and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning
or the powdery Parmesan cheese in a can and garlic salt (or you could sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. I did that once. It was awesome). If you’d like, you can serve with marinara for dipping.
They’re amazing hot, but I’m not gonna lie, they’re also pretty amazing at 11 pm when your kids are in bed and you’re pondering the meaning of life in the dark in the kitchen.
Breadsticks
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup warm 105-115 degrees water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3-4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Butter
- Garlic Bread Seasoning
Instructions
- In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.
- Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.
- Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk. While the dough is rising, line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Remove from bowl and place on a surface sprayed with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter.
- Roll out each piece of dough into a snake about 18″ long, then drape the middle of the “snake” over your forefinger and twist the dough. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly, but it’s okay if they’re close; pulling apart hot bread is one of life’s greatest pleasures!
- Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes.
- When there’s about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425. When done rising, bake for 12-15 minutes (it will depend on your oven) or until golden brown. Rub some butter on top of the breadsticks (just put a ziploc bag on your hand, grab some softened butter, and have at it) and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning or the powdery Parmesan cheese in a can and garlic salt.
Notes
Serving suggestions:
- Omit garlic bread seasoning and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar; dip in cream cheese frosting
- Serve alongside homemade pizza sauce for dipping
Questions & Reviews
Kate, as usual, your stuff completely rocks! And, as usual, mine tastes good but doesn't look nearly as nice as yours. Oh well, my mouth doesn't really care what it looks like :). Thanks for the post! They were so yummy! And now I'm on to look for these allegedly evil lemonbars….:)
Jen–Yep, you can totally do that! Just measure out what you need from the packets; I've done that a lot. 🙂
I've been looking for a pizza dough/breadstick recipe for a while now. I have a good focaccia dough that I make into pizza sometimes but still want something different. I'm definitely going to try this. Question, though (sorry if I missed this somewhere, I skimmed the comments and didn't see it) Can you use packets of yeast instead of bulk yeast? Would one packet be enough, or would it be best to open up a second one and measure out the extra 3/4tsp?
I just made these last night and my husband said they were amazing! The only thing I did different was add 1/2 TBSP of salt instead of 1/2 tsp. They seemed a little bland (no offense) with only the 1/2 tsp. And then I made the garlic bread seasoning and after I let it rise the first time I kneaded some of the seasoning into the dough, shaped the sticks, then let them rise again. After they baked I brushed on the butter and sprinkled more of the garlic bread seasoning on top. They were delicious!!
These are amazing. We had breadsticks like this when we were in the US this summer and my boys have been asking me to make some since we got back. They loved them.
I tried this just now and I did it by hand. I'm waiting for the first rise, and I was just wondering if anybody else had used less flour than what was specified? I added the 1 1/2 flour first and mixed it, and gradually added more flour. I've only added about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour when it already got dry (not sticking to fingers) so I stopped adding flour…
we love these breadsticks!
Okay, forget that last comment. I googled it and apparently the salt does prevent the yeast from rising. I'm starting over 🙁
I'm trying these right now but accidentally added the salt to the first step…is that seriously bad? I guess I'll find out but I just wondered if the salt prevented the yeast from working. From all the comments, I'm excited to try these!
I just made this pizza dough and your pizza sauce for my husband and his brothers (the sort of bachelors who order pizza at least once a week). It was a smashing success, and they all want me to make it again! I was really nervous about the dough (I haven't had a lot of success), but it really was foolproof! Thanks for helping me make homemade better than delivery!