I've been searching for recipes on how to make soft, chewy breadsticks like
one of my favorite local restaurants makes. The key for me is getting them
soft and chewy and serving them hot out of the oven, rather than the dry,
thin, wimpy variety that you get when you bake the premade refrigerated
breadstick dough from the grocery store.

After much experimentation, I've learned that the thickness of the
breadsticks makes a huge difference in getting them soft and chewy on the
inside. If they are made too thin, they get dried out and are not chewy. But
if you make them thicker, the inside stays moist and chewy, and the outside
starts to brown just a bit.

The best recipe I've found to make quick and easy breadsticks suggested
using refrigerated Pillsbury Pizza Crust dough that you buy in the tube. You
unroll it into one layer, then you slice them up into rectangles, bake them
until it just starts to brown, and top it with butter, grated parmesan
cheese and salt. This works OK, but the key to getting the breadsticks
thick enough -- I've found -- is to fold the pizza dough into a double
layer. So each breadstick is cut from a double layer of the premade pizza
dough, rather than the single layer that the recipe recommends. Problem is,
no matter what I've tried, the refrigerated dough is too rubbery when I
unroll it, and no matter how I try to join the two layers and work them
together, I can't get the layers to bond to each other. This makes for some
pretty funky breadsticks, because when they are done, the top half of the
breadstick separates from the bottom half.

So the question is, are there any tricks to working with refrigerated,
premade dough so it's more pliable, so you can work two thin layers into one
thick layer? Or if not, is there a better way to quickly and easily make
breadsticks so the dough can be as thick as you want? For instance, if I
bought frozen bread dough, is that easier to work with once it thaws out? Or
is it just as quick to make my own bread dough from scratch, and if so, what
would be a good recipe?

I know nothing about working with dough, as you can tell, so any advice
would be appreciated!! Also, I'd love to make whole-wheat breadsticks in
this same soft and chewy way, so if anyone has tips on a good way to do
that, or a good recipe for the dough, please let me know. I can find whole
wheat frozen dough at the grocery store, but I'm not sure if that would work
or if that dough would be pliable enough so that I could make the layer of
dough as thick as I want. Thanks for your help!


DK

I should mention -- in case anyone is interested -- that the recipe I was
talking about in the original post, is as follows, except I recommend making
the pizza dough twice as thick as they say in the recipe, which will extend
your baking time a bit.




Ingredients:
a.. 1 Tube 10 oz Pillsbury pizza Dough
b.. 2 tb Butter
c.. 1 ts Garlic salt
d.. Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:


1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Unroll the dough on a cutting board. Position it lengthwise (longer from
let to right than from top to bottom). With a sharp kinfe cut the dough in
half down the middle. Then cut each of those halves vertically in half and
then in half once more so that you have 8 even strips of dough.
3. Being careful not to stretch the dough place each strip on a lightly
greased cookie sheet and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the top just turns
golden brown.
4. While the dough bakes melt the butter (on the stove or in the microwave
on high for 15 to 20 seconds) then add the garlic salt and stir until it
dissolves.
5. Remove the browned dough from the oven and with a pastry brush or spoon
spread a coating of garlic butter over each piece.
6. Sprinkle a generous amount of Parmesan cheese on each. Makes 8 pieces.

--
DK

I use a regular pizza dough, about 3 cups ap flour 1 cup water a tablespoon
of EVO, table spoon salt, 1 packet yeast, and a pich of sugar. Sometimes I
add thyme and garlic.
Make the dough cut into peicesx and make them as thick or thinb as you
desire

Brush them with oil out of the oven and grated parmigana reggiano


--
Ron Anderson
A1 Sewing Machine
PO Box 60
Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com
"DK" > wrote in message ...
>I should mention -- in case anyone is interested -- that the recipe I was
>talking about in the original post, is as follows, except I recommend
>making the pizza dough twice as thick as they say in the recipe, which will
>extend your baking time a bit.
>
>
>
>
> Ingredients:
> a.. 1 Tube 10 oz Pillsbury pizza Dough
> b.. 2 tb Butter
> c.. 1 ts Garlic salt
> d.. Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
>
> Instructions:
>
>
> 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
> 2. Unroll the dough on a cutting board. Position it lengthwise (longer
> from let to right than from top to bottom). With a sharp kinfe cut the
> dough in half down the middle. Then cut each of those halves vertically in
> half and then in half once more so that you have 8 even strips of dough.
> 3. Being careful not to stretch the dough place each strip on a lightly
> greased cookie sheet and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the top just
> turns golden brown.
> 4. While the dough bakes melt the butter (on the stove or in the microwave
> on high for 15 to 20 seconds) then add the garlic salt and stir until it
> dissolves.
> 5. Remove the browned dough from the oven and with a pastry brush or spoon
> spread a coating of garlic butter over each piece.
> 6. Sprinkle a generous amount of Parmesan cheese on each. Makes 8 pieces.
>
> --
> DK
>

The best breadstcks I've made are stretched to length after proofing
then baked immediately.

I use Carol Field's recipe from "The Italian Baker".

Love

John

DK wrote:
> I've been searching for recipes on how to make soft, chewy
> breadsticks like one of my favorite local restaurants makes.> After much
> experimentation, I've . <SNIP>
>But if you make them thicker, the inside stays moist and
> chewy, and the outside starts to brown just a bit.
>
> The best recipe I've found to make quick and easy breadsticks
> suggested using refrigerated Pillsbury Pizza Crust dough that you buy
> in the tube. You unroll it into one layer, then you slice them up
> into rectangles, bake them until it just starts to brown, and top it
> with butter, grated parmesan cheese and salt. > from scratch, and if so,
> what would be a good recipe?
<SNIP>
> I know nothing about working with dough, as you can tell, so any
> advice would be appreciated!! Also, I'd love to make whole-wheat
> breadsticks in this same soft and chewy way, so if anyone has tips on
> a good way to do that, or a good recipe for the dough, please let me
> know. I can find whole wheat frozen dough at the grocery store, but

Being pedantic - why not try cheese straws - sounds just what you are
looking for but without using yeast.
--

Di

"The hurrier I am the behinder I get"

"KingOfGlop" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> The best breadstcks I've made are stretched to length after proofing
> then baked immediately.
>
> I use Carol Field's recipe from "The Italian Baker".
>
> Love
>
> John
>
Would love to try that, just do not have the book and no intention of
acquiring it. Can you give us a clue?