Big Fat Breadsticks
Submitted by calico on January 15, 2008 at 2:32 pm

This recipe is from King Arthur Flour's Baking Sheet ~ Spring 2004.

1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive or garlic oil
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast

Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix them together-by hand, mixer or bread machine-until you've made a soft smooth dough. Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn it over once to coat. Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, or till it's almost doubled in size.

After the dough has doubled, deflate it and turn it out onto a lightly floured or greased surface. Pat the dough out to a 9 x 15-inch rectangle. Using a knife or a pizza wheel, cut the dough into 1-inch wide strips. Place the strips on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet (you can twist them if you like to make them look a little fancier), cover and let rise about 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the breadsticks have risen to almost double, bake in pre-heated oven for 12 to 15 minutes till golden. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 14 breadsticks

Variations:
Onion breadsticks: add 1 tablespoon dried minced onion and 1 teaspoon onion powder to the dough ingredients.

Garlic and rosemary breadsticks: add 1 tablespoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary to the dough.

Parmesan breadsticks: add 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese to the dough ingredients, and sprinkle the breadsticks with 1/4 cup grated cheese before baking.