Easy Homemade Breadsticks

If you think you need a giant, fancy mixer to make amazing bread at home, I’m beyond thrilled to tell you you’re wrong! This easy homemade breadsticks recipe is a “no mixer, no bread maker” dream, and they come out perfectly fluffy and delicious every single time.

Who needs scented candles? If you want your house to smell like pure, cozy heaven, just bake a batch of these breadsticks. At least you won’t need to call your family to the kitchen when dinner is ready.

They’re already there. WAITING 👀🤤

🥖 Ingredients

✅Yeast – If you’re new to making homemade bread, here’s how to know if your yeast is actually alive. The yeast is ready when you can describe it in one of the following terms: foamy, bubbly, frothy. It should also roughly double in size.

✅Sugar – Think back to your high school science classes. It’s sugars that feed the yeast and help the bread dough rise.

✅Flour – Like all good breads, it’s flour and water that bind it all together. Have some fun and mix up the types of flours in this recipe. I used a simple enriched white flour.

👩‍🍳 Instructions

👉Step 1: Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a small cup. Wait ten minutes until it is frothy. That’s just the yeast doing its thing and it means that it is still active and will help your dough rise nicely.

If your proofed yeast looks anything like the picture, chances are you’re good to go.

👉Step 2: Combine the proofed yeast with salt and flour and mix well by hand. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty use a silicone spatula at first. It will work better than a wooden one. The mixture will be sticky at first, so keep mixing until it comes together. This will take 2-3 minutes.

👉Step 3: Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and then knead it by hand. Add a sprinkle of flour at a time if it feels too sticky. It will be ready once it is very smooth and doesn’t stick to your hands anymore.

👉Step 4: Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover it with a lid or a kitchen towel and let it proof for one hour.

👉Step 5: Use the rolling pin to form it into a rectangle about 1/2″ thick. Cut it lengthwise into 12 breadstick shapes and place them on a lightly greased sheet pan for an hour to rise. I covered them with a kitchen towel to retain the heat.

👉Step 6: At the 45-minute mark preheat the oven to 450°F. Once it’s heated, brush the breadsticks with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes.

👉Step 7: Remove from oven and brush the breadsticks with melted butter again. Bake for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool before serving.

That’s it! Seriously easy!!!

💡 Expert Tips

🔸You can use fresh yeast instead of dry. It will still need to be activated the same way, using warm water and a bit of sugar.

🔸You can proof the dough in just 30 minutes (so 2x faster) if you have an Instant Pot. Form it into a ball and grease the Instant Pot liner. Place the dough ball in the Instant Pot, cover with a glass lid, and select the Yogurt setting. The dough will also proof faster in the oven with the light turned on (the oven should be off; the low heat from the lamp is just enough to help your dough rise faster).

🔸When cutting your dough, you have two options in styling your breadsticks. You can go the uber-fancy way and form them to shape by hand. Or, you can just slice them into sticks with a pizza cutter and call it a day. I chose the latter because I am terrible at hand-rolling breadsticks. I am really, really bad at it.

🔸Help, my yeast isn’t frothy! The sugar and warm water should activate the yeast. If you don’t see any bubbles after 5-10 minutes it means it’s not alive.

You might wonder how this can happen. Well, there are 2 common reasons: a) the yeast is expired (or wasn’t stored properly), or b) the water you used was hot, not warm. Hot water will definitely kill your yeast.

🔸You can skip the manual kneading and use a stand mixer. This doesn’t affect the recipe.

🧀 Variations

Of course, plain breadsticks are great as they are, and make a delicious universal side. However, this simple recipe is the perfect base for all kinds of fun flavors!

⭐Garlic butter breadsticks – This is our favorite! Simply melt your butter with 1-2 cloves of minced garlic and a teaspoon of dried parsley. Brush this on in Steps 5 and 6 instead of plain butter.

⭐Cheesy breadsticks – After brushing with butter in Step 5, sprinkle the breadsticks generously with grated Parmesan or a shredded Italian cheese blend before baking.

⭐Cinnamon sugar sticks – For a sweet treat, brush with plain melted butter as directed. As soon as they come out of the oven in Step 6, brush them again and immediately sprinkle with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. They’re amazing!

⭐Everything breadsticks – After brushing with butter in Step 5, sprinkle them with ‘Everything But The Bagel’ seasoning.”

❓ FAQ

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