Recipe: Blakely Breadsticks

Sunday, Caroline invited me over to her home for dinner, but first, it was time for breadsticks. You'd think there wouldn't be much to talk about...you'd be wrong. She set up a demo for us with Matt Blakely. He taught us how to make his dad's famous breadsticks. I humored her, because that's all I could do, however, now I have tasted the breadsticks and can mirror her excitement and intensity about you making and eating these delicious cheesy treats. You can serve it as a side or even with some marinara as an appetizer.

ingredients:

• 4 cups warm water
  
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  
• 2 T Saf-Instant yeast
  
• 4 t salt
  
• 4 T vegetable or olive oil
  
• Approximately 8 - 10 cups flour
  
• 1/2 lb pepper jack cheese, grated
  
• 1/4 lb butter (divided; melted)
  
• Lawry’s garlic salt
  
• Parmesan cheese
  

Seriously...pepper jack cheese is the way to go. Trust me on this one. 



directions

1. Put warm (almost hot) water and sugar in a mixer (with a dough hook) or bowl and stir. Add yeast and allow it to dissolve. Stir in salt and oil. 
2. Little by little, stir in enough flour to make the dough soft but not sticky. (Add about 1/2 of the total flour at first, then less and less at a time until the desired consistency is attained, kneading in the last cup or so.) 
   
3. Spray 2 cookie sheets with Pam. Divide dough in half and roll out onto a lightly floured surface or surface sprayed with Pam, to a little larger than the cookie sheet. 
4. Take a pizza cutter and slice in half (lengthwise) and then across in 2” or 2-1/2” increments. Fill each dough piece with about 2 T grated cheese. 
5. Roll up and pinch the seams and ends and place on cookie sheet with the seam down. Repeat until done. (If you need a visual, put your email address in the comments and I'll send you a diagram).
6. Brush the breadsticks with 1/2 of the melted butter. Cover with plastic wrap or a lightweight slightly damp cloth and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes). 
7. Sprinkle on Lawry’s garlic salt and Parmesan cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 12 – 15 min or until nicely brown. Immediately remove bread sticks from cookie sheets to cooling racks and brush with the other 1/2 of the melted butter. Serve hot and enjoy!

Yield: Makes 6 lbs. dough or about 2 dozen large breadsticks
Total Preparation Time: About 1 hour plus dough-rising and baking time
Calories, fat, fiber: Seriously, you don’t want to know. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Note: Recipe can also be used for bread or pizza dough (1st 6 ingredients only). 1-1/2 lbs. of dough makes a good loaf of bread. 3/4 lb. of dough makes a 12” pizza.

My tips:

• this recipe is huge so unless you're trying to feed 20 normal people, or me, Caroline, and Laura...cut it in half
• Probably best to add flour in at 2 cups at a time, until the dough is cohesive not sticky
• Don't need a KitchenAid, but you can use one...by hand worked just fine. 
• You can let it rise either in a large ball of dough or form the breadsticks first and let it rise...works fine either way!