College cooking (part vi)
I've been feeling a little "meh" lately, and in an attempt to cheer myself up, I present to you a slightly more complicated, but very rewarding recipe.
First, we need a dough. I used my basic French bread dough, but I think other dough recipes would also work.
In a large bowl, mix together 4 cups of flour, 1 and a half tablespoons of sugar (any kind), 1 tablespoon of yeast, and a pinch of salt.
Then, add 1 and 1/4 cups of very warm water (as hot as you can get from the tap), and 1 and a half tablespoon of oil (any kind). Stir until this forms into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes, then stir again. Repeat this until the dough has rested 5 times.
Then, roll dough into a rectangle on a flour-covered surface. In my experience, this dough is very sticky and quite wet, so be careful when handling it.
Brush half (lengthwise) of the dough with melted butter or margarine. Fold dough over buttered side.
Then, cut dough into strips. Twist strips several times and place them on a greased pan.
Brush the tops with melted butter and parmesan cheese, garlic salt or powder (not too much!), and Italian seasoning. As you can see, I used shedded cheddar cheese; the result would be a crisper and browner bread. Parmesan cheese would yield a much softer bread.
Let rise 30 minutes. Then bake at 400 F for 12 to 15 minutes. They brown easily (especially if using cheddar cheese) so take care. Once out of the oven, brush them with more melted butter and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
Voila! It takes about 2 hours to make these breadsticks. Yield about 1 dozen of big fat ones. :)
Now, a recap:
Ingredients:
Dough:
4 cups flour
1 1/2 TBS sugar (any kind)
1 TB yeast
A pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups very warm water (as hot as you can get from the tap)
1 1/2 TBS oil (any kind)
Toppings:
Melted butter or margarine
Parmesan (or cheddar) cheese
Garlic salt or powder
Italian seasoning
Mix dry ingredients of dough together. Then, add in the wet ingredients. Stir into a ball.
Let dough rest for 10 minutes, then stir again. Repeat process until the dough has rested 5 times.
Roll dough into rectangle on flour-covered surface. The dough is very sticky, so be careful.
Brush half of the dough with melted butter or margarine, lengthwise. Fold dough over to buttered side.
Cut dough into strips. Twist strips and place on greased baking sheet.
Brush the tops with melted butter, and sprinkle with toppings.
Let rise 30 minutes. Then bake at 400 F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
As soon as they're out of the oven, brush with melted butter again and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
Yield ~ 1 dozen of fat breadsticks.