We love bread and we bake a lot of it around here. All kinds for all occasions. And we make a lot of dough for other purposes (like pizza & sticky buns) with a bread maker. I’m forever on the lookout for recipes that utilize my bread maker. But I realize not everyone has or wants a bread maker. And bread can definitely be made from scratch without a bread maker, it just takes more work & time on the part of the baker. Coming across a bread stick recipe that doesn’t require a bread maker or a lot of time to make the dough is quite a find!

Back in the early ’80s I discovered mail order. You could get great stuff by looking through a catalog that came in the mailbox and sending off an order form with a check. I loved it! I was never a big fan of going to the mall to shop and I’m still not. Current (the card & gift company) was a favorite mail order company of mine and every catalog used to come with a free card tucked into its pages. I was sold. In 1990, while living in rural Maine with a toddler and a husband who worked really long hours, I discovered the King Arthur Flour Company.  King Arthur Flour was founded in Boston in 1790 and is America’s oldest flour company. Their mail order company had everything a baker could want and even back then, I was a baker with a bread maker. For me, the best part of their catalogs was the recipes they included. Sure, their recipes used specific ingredients that could only be found in their catalog, but by reading the product description, I could usually figure out an alternative that I already had on hand.

4 moves, 3 states and 20+ years later, I still get Current and King Arthur Flour catalogs. I still order from Current (online these days) and I still cut out recipes from King Arthur Flour.

Soft Bread Sticks (adapted from kingarthurflour.com)

Hands-on time: 15 minutes, Baking time:  25 minutes, Total time:  1 hour 45 minutes,     Yield:  3 dozen bread sticks

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
• dried oregano & basil, to sprinkle on top

Lightly grease a rimmed cookie sheet (about 18 x 13 inches) then drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom. Combine the water, 3 Tablespoons of oil, salt, flour, garlic, Parmesan cheese and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed for 1 minute.

This dough is just as easy to make as if you were doing it in a bread maker.

Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, spreading it nearly to the edges. Using a knife, score the dough in 3/4″ to 1″ wide crosswise strips. Score the dough once lengthwise, so that you now have 36 6 1/2″-long strips.

I opted for fewer, bigger bread sticks so I cut them lenthwise first then crosswise.

Cover the sheet and let the dough rise at room temperature for an hour, until it becomes puffy. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F. Drizzle the dough lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with some dried oregano & basil.

Got to get the Italian seasonings on there!

Bake the bread until it is a very light golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and carefully lift it out of the pan onto a rack. As soon as you can handle it, cut the dough along the score lines. For the softest bread sticks, serve immediately. If you want the bread sticks a bit firmer, place the bread sticks back on the baking sheet on their edges. Return them to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes for soft bread sticks or 10 minutes for firmer bread sticks that can stand up to a stiffer dip. Remove them from the oven and serve warm or at room temperature with your favorite marinara sauce or dip.

The perfect appetizer for Martini & Pizza nights!

Long live the first American flour company!  ~Linda

Soft Bread Sticks (adapted from kingarthurflour.com)

Hands-on time: 15 minutes    Baking time:  25 minutes                                                   Total time:  1 hour 45 minutes     Yield:  3 dozen bread sticks

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
• dried oregano & basil, to sprinkle on top

Lightly grease a rimmed cookie sheet (about 18 x 13 inches) then drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom. Combine the water, oil, salt, flour, garlic, Parmesan cheese and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at a high speed for 1 minute.

Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, spreading it nearly to the edges. Using a knife, score the dough in 3/4″ to 1″ wide crosswise strips. Score the dough once lengthwise, so that you now have 36 6 1/2″-long strips.

Cover the sheet and let the dough rise at room temperature for an hour, until it becomes puffy. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F. Drizzle the dough lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with some dried oregano & basil.

Bake the bread until it is a very light golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and carefully lift it out of the pan onto a rack. As soon as you can handle it, cut the dough along the score lines. For the softest bread sticks, serve immediately. If you want the bread sticks a bit firmer, place the bread sticks back on the baking sheet on their edges. Return them to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes for soft bread sticks or 10 minutes for firmer bread sticks that can stand up to a stiffer dip. Remove them from the oven and serve warm or at room temperature with your favorite marinara sauce or dip.