It's Bread Week! - Amanda's Soft Breadsticks

Fresh, aromatic, homemade bread is one of my personal

weaknesses!  So many people have asked me to help

them make bread so I have decided to focus a whole week

on

BREAD,

yeast bread that is.

I am going to start Bread Week with a great recipe my daughter

brought home from her junior high foods class a few years

ago.  She immediately made them and we all fell in love!

My older daughter, who is 9 years older,

decided if her sister could make bread, she could, and

it was all because of this easy recipe.

Having a mixer with a dough hook takes a lot of the work

out of making yeast breads!

Soft Breadstick Recipe

1 T. yeast

2 T. sugar

1 1/2 C. warm water

1 tsp. salt

3 1/2 C. flour

1 cube butter, melted (1/2 C.)

Parmesan cheese, grated

Granulated garlic or garlic powder

Rosemary or parsley, dried

Salad Supreme (optional)

Mix the yeast, sugar and warm water.  You can use rapid

rise yeast if desired.  Add the salt and flour and knead for 5

minutes.  You can either knead by hand or with your mixer and

the dough hook. Spray Pam into your bowl, then place the

dough into the bowl and spray with more Pam.  Cover with plastic

wrap and let rise until double.  Usually about 1 hour.  Less if you

used the rapid rise.  (If I make mine in the Kitchenaid, I don't

grease the bowl, I just leave the dough in and spray Pam on

the top, then cover.

Place the melted butter in a 9x13 inch baking pan.  Lightly

flour your counter and roll out the dough into a rectangle. 

It will be about 15x20 inches.  Use a pizza cutter to cut it

into 12 strips about 1 1/4 inch wide.  Take one strip at

a time and dip both sides into the butter.  Then fold the

dough strip in half and twist it.  Place the breadsticks in the

pan, moving them aside as needed to continue dipping

the dough in the remaining butter.  

Sprinkle breadsticks with seasonings and cheese.  The Salad

Supreme adds a nice color but if you don't have it you don't

need it.  I used Rosemary on these.

Cover and let rise about 1/2 hour.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

These have granulated garlic, Parmesan cheese, rosemary and

Salad Supreme.

This batch was baking while I was starting this post.

There is nothing like the smell of bread in the oven.

I know these won't make it until dinner, they will be an

after school snack.

If you are nervous about making yeast bread, start with these

easy, soft, scrumptious breadsticks.

The last time I made these and took my first bite, I thought to

myself, "I could never totally give up white flour".   These

really are wonderful.

Click here for printable recipe.

Bread is easy, you just have to make sure your water is not

too hot - that kills the yeast - or too cold - that doesn't let the

yeast grow.  Run the tap water and place your wrist under the

water, if it feels hot, it is too hot, if it feels cool, it is too cold.  

The other big mistakes are adding too much flour

(most bread dough should be sticky but is easier to handle after

it has risen), and not giving

the bread enough time to rise and enough time to bake. 

I will be posting with these fun parties,

go to any of them to see lots of great food and ideas.

Tasty Tuesdays

Foodie Fridays

Favorite Things Saturdays