Homemade Olive Garden Bread Sticks

I love a good bread stick but it's not always easy to find one that I enjoy.  Some are either too hard or too soft or just not tasty enough for my liking.

One of the bread sticks I do enjoy are the ones they serve at Olive Garden, they seem to have just the right amount of everything.

Truthfully though, we don't go out to eat at restaurants that often and I can say that the last time I was at Olive Garden was about 6 or 7 years ago.  I know, I know, shocking.

If you search online there are quite a few recipes for bread sticks and some even copy cat recipes for major restaurants and fast food places.

But the one I use which we all just love, is the recipe from The Misadventures of Mrs B.  These are phenomenal!

Quick note though.....I think the salt in the basting sauce is a LITTLE too much for my family's liking...if you don't like a lot of salt, just use 1 teaspoon instead of the 2 recommended.

Olive Garden Bread Sticks 

Credit:  The Misadventures of Mrs B.

1 1/2 cups warm water (between 110 - 120 degrees F)
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered. Mixture should be frothy.

In separate bowl, combine flour and salt.

Add to yeast mixture. Add melted butter. Mix with paddle attachment of stand mixer or wooden spoon until fully combined.

Knead dough for a few minutes just until dough is smooth. Do not overknead!

Grease a cookie sheet. Pull off pieces of dough and roll out into strips.

Now, I tend to make pretty thick breadsticks so I normally end with around 10 or so, but I'm sure that if you rolled yours out more thinly you'd have at least a dozen.

Cover the dough and let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and once heated, pop in the bread sticks. In microwave, combine the following:

1 stick unsalted butter (or 1/2 cup margarine)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt

After 6 or 7 minutes, brush the bread sticks with half the butter mixture.

Then continue to bake. Honestly, I almost never leave them in there for an entire 15 minutes - normally it's closer to 12 because I like them softer and less crisp on the outside, but to each their own. Either way, immediately upon removal from the oven brush the other half of the butter on the sticks.

Allow them to cool for a minute or two, and enjoy!