Olive Garden Bread sticks

My sister came to visit us last week and we had a lot of fun! She was supposed to come in September for her birthday but I ended up having a baby the day before her flight was scheduled so we had to postpone it. She comes to visit every summer and I absolutely love it. I always have a long list of things I want to do with her when she comes. This year was a little different since I had a little one but we still got to do quite a bit of stuff. We love to cook together when she comes into town so one of the first things we made was homemade chicken broccoli Alfredo. It was absolutely delicious. We decided to make homemade Olive Garden bread sticks to go with it. They take a little bit of time to rise but the preparation is pretty easy. I got the recipe from Moms Crazy Cooking

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the finished product. They were so delicious. I will have to make them again soon and take final pictures of them before they are all gone. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp granulated sugar
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup; plus 1 tbsp warm water (105-115 degrees)
3 cups bread flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, softened

(use for topping after baking)
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes foamy on top. If it doesn't get foamy, check to make sure your yeast isn't expired or the water wasn't too hot or too cold. This step is called proofing. If the mixture doesn't get foamy that means that the yeast didn't activate and the bread won't rise if you continue on.

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer to mix in the softened butter to the flour. Don't worry if it still looks like flour, you just don't want to see lumps of butter.

Switch to your dough hook and add your foamy yeast mixture to the flour. Combine ingredients and then knead for 10 minutes.

Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel, let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, it will double in size.

Once doubled, measure out portions to roll into bread sticks. The easiest way to roll is between your palms but you can also roll on the counter or a cutting board.  Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet, or Pam sprayed baking sheet.

Once all dough is rolled, cover with a damp cloth and let rise for another hour to 1 1/2 hours. Until the dough doubles in size again.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the bread sticks  for 12-14 minutes till golden brown. Remove from oven and add the garlic salt to the melted butter and then brush it over the bread sticks.

Makes 12-13 bread sticks.


We dipped these bread sticks in homemade Alfredo which was delicious! If you want the recipe to homemade Alfredo sauce go here