These Bread Twists are the best Bread Sticks I’ve ever had. They pull apart so nicely, are a bit chewy, and they still melt in your mouth. The kids get so excited over these and there is fighting over the last ones left.
There is a restaurant near us called The Pizza Factory that serves these wonderful bread sticks. It’s almost a given that everyone has to order their own bread stick. I would dream about them and I always wondered how they cooked them on a stick with no flat sides. To be honest, I still kind of wonder how the do it. Since I’ve been making these, the ones at The Pizza Factory don’t taste nearly as good as they used to. I prefer the homemade ones now. If you make them, you will understand what I’m talking about.
It’s such a nice dough to work with and there aren’t that many ingredients. I always use bread flour in my bread. Bread flour has more protein content which helps the gluten develop better. In the video I used all-purpose flour and there was a big difference. It tasted old quicker and it didn’t pull apart like they do with bread flour. They kind of just broke apart. It still tasted good but we did notice a big difference.
I cut the dough 12 pieces and roll those pieces into “snakes” about 18″ long. Wrap them around the dowel and place them on cake pans like this. The handle will hang off the edge but the top part with the bread will hang off just a little. Make sure to pinch the dough at the top and the bottom to prevent them coming off the dowel.
Place the 2 pans in the oven like this so you can bake them both at the same time.
This is what a “golden color” looks like.
You brush butter on before and after you bake. Before you bake is just plain butter. After you bake you add all the good stuff.
I don’t love Rosemary but I LOVE it on these Bread Twists. I’ve made them without before and it really does make a big difference. I would not recommend getting rid of the rosemary.
For the kids sake, we call it painting. We “paint” the butter on and they love it. I’d much rather them paint the Bread Twists than paint the walls.
We usually put them in a few cups and put them on the dinner table for us to take them. They display really nicely and get eaten up really quick. I just wash the dowels in the dishwasher and use them over and over.
I even made these once for a kids cooking birthday party. Each kid wrote their names on their dowel and they rolled them out and “painted” them themselves. It was a lot of fun. Each one looked really different and unique.
Bread Twists
1 ½ cups Warm Water
1 Tbsp. Yeast
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
3 ½ cups Bread Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 cube Butter, melted
½ tsp. Granulated Garlic
½ tsp. Dried Rosemary Leaves
¼ tsp. Season All
1 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese
12 Wooden Dowels approximately 12” long and ⅜” diameter.
2- 9”x13” Pans
1-Make sure you have all your ingredients and clean your work area.
2-Pour your warm water into a mixing bowl like a Bosch or KitchenAid. The water should be getting too hot to touch but you should still be able to touch it. If it’s too hot then it will kill the yeast. If it’s not warm enough then it won’t activate the yeast and your bread won’t rise. Don’t stress too much about this part. Any sort of warmer water will be just fine.
3-Add your yeast and sugar to the water and whisk it around a little. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes for the yeast to dissolve.
4-After the water has sat for 5-10 minutes, add the olive oil, flour, and salt. Mix it until it’s smooth.
5-Cover the dough and let it sit for about 25 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
6-While it’s rising clean up the mess.
7-Get the wood dowels. Mine are 13” long and the best ones have 3/8” diameter. If they are too thin then they tend to droop down more. I have used skewers but they droop even more. They are nice because you can just throw them away when you are done though. Grease the dowels except for the 1 ½” on the bottom for the handle.
8-Divide the dough into 12 pieces. I usually cut the dough in half twice then I cut each piece into 3 pieces.
9-Roll each little piece into a snake. You want it to be about 18” long. Wrap each piece around the wooden dowel. Pinch the dough at the top and the bottom. Set them on top of a 9”x13” cake pan. Part of the dowel will hang over both edges but the it won’t touch the bottom. Repeat until all 12 are done. Make sure the twists don’t touch each other and allow space for the dough to grow.
10-Cover the twists with plastic wrap and let it rise again, about 15 minutes.
11-While it’s rising, clean up the mess, melt the butter, and turn the oven on to 375 degrees.
12- Once it has risen, remove the plastic wrap and brush some melted butter all over the dough. There will be butter left over so don’t try to use it all.
13-Place carefully in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. You want them to have a golden brown color to them.
14-While they are baking, add the Granulated Garlic, Season All, Rosemary, and Parmesan Cheese to the butter.
15-Once the bread twists are all baked and out of the oven, brush the butter mixture all over the bread twists.
16-Place them in a tall cup or container to serve them if desired.
17-Clean up mess.
18-Eat, Share, Enjoy!!!
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