Saturday, January 18, 2014

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks

Tonight, my husband wanted to make his awesome homemade pizza for dinner. It really impresses me how well he can cook some things. Pizza just happens to be one of my favs when it comes to things that he makes. He knows I love a thin, crispy crust and I don't care for a huge amount of sauce so his pizza is perfect!

I decided to try a new breadstick recipe that I found on Pinterest today, but like always, I tweak the recipes I find/use to make them into my own.



Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks


Yield: 2-12 inch pizza crusts; about 1 lb. of dough



Dough Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup...depending on the heat & humidity}

Breadstick Ingredients:


1 batch of dough {from above}
3 tablespoons softened salted butter {room temperature}
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2-3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

Directions:

For the pizza dough--

In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer, stir yeast and sugar into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking.

Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix. Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn't stick to your hands. Once you reach this stage, knead for 6 minutes.

Dough should be smooth and easy to work with and shouldn't stick to the bowl. Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn't dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. Use as desired.

For the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks-

Preheat oven to highest temperature that you oven will reach. You want to preheat with pizza stone inside the oven also, so that the stone will be nice and hot. {If you don't have a pizza stone, use an upside down cookie sheet.}

Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.

Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.}

Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and sprinkle on cheese. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, if desired.

Bake for about 9-10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown. Your dough should also bubble up nicely too!

Remove from oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes before slicing into strips.

Serve with marinara or butter garlic sauce.

I did a butter garlic sauce by melting a little butter and adding garlic powder to the desired taste.

Enjoy!!