Olive Garden's Breadsticks

Here is another great Olive Garden recipe for you!  I made these breadsticks for our Olive Garden at home dinner with my brother and his wife. He called me up right before saying they didn't have time to make a salad so they bought one from Olive Garden and it came with breadsticks. So he brought those over and we compared the real ones to my made at home version and all 4 of us voted that mine were better!  They had a lot more flavor and weren't so tough. They were much softer.  I love Olive Garden's breadsticks but these are even better!


Olive Garden's Breadsticks
Slightly adapted from The Food Network

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 package active dry yeast (or 2 ¼ tsp.)

4 ¼ cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. salt

For the Topping:

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

½ tsp. kosher salt

1/8 to ¼ tsp. garlic powder

pinch of dried oregano

Directions:

Make the dough: Place ¼ cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; add a pinch of sugar, sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Add the flour, butter, sugar, salt and 1 ¼ cups plus 2 Tbsp. warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.

Knead the dough by hand on a flour surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes.  Roll into a 2-foot-long log; cut into 16 1 ½ inch-long pieces.  Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch-long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the topping.  Brush the breadsticks with 1 ½ tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt.  Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt with the garlic power and oregano.  Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.