I have a weakness. In the form of bread.
I. Love. Bread.
If it is in front of me, I cannot stop eating it. In the past two years I have also learned to bake bread, so now I cannot stop baking it. It’s seriously becoming a problem for my hips and the fit of my work pants. If I were able to wear my stretchy leggings all of the time it wouldn’t be an issue. But I can’t.
Anyways, one of my absolute favorite places to eat breadsticks is at Olive Garden. They don’t even need to bring me a menu. Just bring on the baskets of breadsticks. Oh, and vats of salad.
Well, I was on Pinterest (another weakness) the other day and saw this recipe for Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks. I was instantly intrigued and I knew that we were having pasta for dinner, so these would be the PERFECT bread to go with our pasta!
I made them. I was slightly ticked as I was making them because they didn’t rise as high as I thought they should (they didn’t need to rise as much as I thought). I was unticked (is that a word??) as soon as I was watching through the oven window as they cooked. Then I pulled them out, buttered and seasoned them. They ended up being pretty stinkin’ close to the real deal.
Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks (slightly adapted from Cooking Classy)
Ingredients
-1cup + 2 Tablespoons warm water (110-115 degrees)
-1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
-2 Tablespoons sugar, divided
-3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
-1 3/4 teaspoon salt
-3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Topping
-1/2 stick margarine or butter
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Punch the dough down. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and place the ropes on greased cookie sheets. Cover the ropes with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another hour.
After an hour, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cook at 425 degrees for 10-13 minutes. When they start to get brown on the top, turn the oven off and turn your broiler on. Watch the breadsticks. You want them to get nicely browned, not burnt. As soon as the broiler turns them the color you desire, take them out of the oven.
After removing them from the oven, take your half stick of margarine or butter and smother them with it. Then sprinkle them liberally with the garlic and salt mixture.
Devour immediately. Or you can serve them with dinner. Maybe you’ll be like me and eat two after they come out of the oven and two more with dinner.
I told you my hips hate me.
What is your favorite bread recipe?
Oh man, I love and hate this at the same time. I do not need to know how to make those delicious breadsticks at home because then I will eat them all the time!!! lol
i tried to make homemade olive garden breadsticks once and they were kind of a disaster. a salty disaster.
this version sounds fabulous, i’ll have to give it a shot. thanks autumn!!
oh these breadsticks look PERFECT! I could eat these all day long!
I love bread too! Olive Garden’s breadsticks are my favorite. I eat a whole basket every time we go. I’m definitely going to try out this recipe – it sounds (and looks) amazing!