Homemade Breadsticks (Bakery Style!)

Homemade breadsticks are easy to make using basic ingredients most people keep in their pantry. Learn how to make them with this simple recipe. Perfect with soup or pasta.

Making bread always puts me in the best of moods. It engages all the senses. Especially the pleasant tactile experience of kneading and shaping dough. There’s anticipation involved, too. And at the end you have something wonderful to slather with salted butter. It’s a treat for the taste buds but it’s also good for the heart and soul, if you ask me.

These puffy homemade breadsticks are simple and fun to make. They’re crisp on the outside and a little chewy on the inside. The texture leans toward French bread along with the shaping method (almost like a baguette!), but their exteriors are not quite as crusty. This recipe is quickly becoming a favorite. I’ve made these four times now. And each time my shaping technique gets a little bit better. But they’re meant to be a little rustic, so if your first batches look a little rough around the edges, that’s totally okay! They’re called homemade breadsticks for a reason. And they’ll still taste good.

A basic formula with few ingredients.

Start with active dry yeast, (you can also use instant yeast) sprinkled over warm water and add a little granulated sugar. Stir it all together in a mixing bowl and give it about five minutes for the yeast to bloom. This mixture should puff up and become foamy. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer bowl for this, because that’s how I’m kneading the dough – on the mixer with the dough hook. I’m including instructions for hand-kneading if you don’t have a stand mixer.

Heat up some milk in a saucepan to hot but not boiling. The mixture should steam but not boil. Add 2 tablespoons of cold butter. The butter will melt quickly while lowering the temperature of the milk from hot to mildly warm. It should be about 105°F. Pour this into the foamy yeast mixture an stir briefly.

Next, mix together flour and salt. This is just regular old AP flour – no bread flour is needed. Using the paddle attachment, beat the flour mixture into the yeast/butter mixture little at a time until a shaggy dough forms.

Swap the paddle for the dough hook, and with a timer set, knead on medium-high speed until a smooth elastic dough forms. This will take about 8 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, and turn it over so that the dough surface is greased. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled.

Shaping the dough.

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a work surface. The dough should not be very sticky, but if it is you can very lightly dust the work surface. Cut the dough into four equal pieces.

Cut each quarter into three pieces, for a total of 12 pieces. If you’d like your breadsticks to all be completely uniform, you can weigh each dough piece. I didn’t do this, so mine weren’t completely alike – but they were close!

Lightly roll each dough triangle into a ball under a cupped hand. You shouldn’t have to use flour for this part. The dough should have a little tackiness to it so it catches on the table’s surface. Place all of the dough balls under a lightly damp towel.

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Flatten a dough ball using your knuckles, creating a slight rectangle shape. Roll up the dough rectangle. This is how the baked breadsticks end up with a soft, fluffy, puffy middle. Just like the ones from my favorite local bakery.

You won’t have to roll the dough tightly, it’s more like folding the dough twice onto itself. I’ve made a video of the mixing and shaping process, so you can watch technique in action.

Roll the dough into a baton shape under flattened palms. Start at the center with light even pressure, and travel outward to the ends. Don’t stretch or pull the dough. Just keep rolling until you have an approximate 9’inch baton.

Place the dough batons seam side-down on a baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap. Let them rise until puffy, about 20 minutes.

When the breadsticks have plumped, brush them lightly with egg wash and cover with raw sesame seeds.

A bread baker’s secret.

Bake the breadsticks for about 10 minutes in a well preheated 425 ° F oven. During this time, mist the the oven walls with a spray bottle of water about three times. Steam helps the bread form its crisp exterior. If you don’t have a spray bottle, toss a few ice cubes in the bottom of the oven. If you desire a softer exterior, then you could skip this step (but I urge you to try it first!).

These homemade bread sticks have many variations! You can swap out the sesame seeds for an equal amount of poppy seeds. Or, bake them without seeds and brush the breadsticks with melted butter or garlic butter just out of the oven. (Use unsalted butter and garlic salt to make garlic butter). Or, just serve the breadsticks with a bowl of warm marinara sauce topped with melted mozzarella cheese (if this sounds good to you, you’ll love , too!). You could also dip the baked breadsticks in melted butter and then roll them in cinnamon-sugar for a sweet treat.

Breadsticks are so versatile and a great accompaniment to just about any meal. However, my favorite ways to serve them is with a big bowl of soup or stew. The breadsticks make excellent dunkers!

Homemade breadsticks are best fresh, but you can make them up to 8 hours ahead and rewarm them in the oven just before serving.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SprinkleBakes