I was making lasagna, and I looked up a recipe for Sourdough Breadsticks to go with it. I think this was the only recipe I found that was for sourdough breadsticks, and not an explanation of how to adapt sourdough bread to bake it as breadsticks. [As a side note, this recipe also has instructions on how to make these into Pizza Breadsticks!] I only had enough sourdough starter for half a recipe, which was great because we really don’t need to eat that much bread, anyway.
I mixed the dough in the stand mixer. It wasn’t coming together at first but I was pretty sure it didn’t need extra water, so I used my hands to incorporate all of the ingredients into a ball of dough. I put it back in the stand mixer and let it knead it until it seemed stretchy and elastic. I put it in a bowl, covered it, and let it rise until doubled. I patted the dough out, cut it into 6 pieces (and weighed them so I could make sure they were all the same weight), and stretched/rolled out the dough until each bread stick was about 8 inches long. (This is different from the current recipe.) I put them on a baking sheet, covered them with plastic wrap, and let them sit on the stove since it was warm from the oven being on.
I let these rise extra long since I was waiting to bake them with dinner. They probably rose for about an hour and a half. I brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled garlic salt on them, and baked them for a total of 14 minutes. They were still pale on top but I thought they probably looked done enough.
These were incredibly soft. They had a nice texture, but they weren’t too chewy or dense. They tore easily. Honestly, I’ve wanted to imitate the breadsticks that you can get at Fazoli’s, and these definitely had the right (if not better) texture. Alex and I are so used to those breadsticks that these seemed like they lacked something – and I’m guessing that something is butter. How I season the top of my breadsticks isn’t the fault of the recipe, though.
I’ve tried making yeast breadsticks in the past, and these were better than any of my other attempts. The dough was very soft and easy to put together, and easy to shape. The texture was great. And, this recipe didn’t take too long by bread-making standards. If you’ve got sourdough starter, definitely give these a try. I’ll probably try these again.
📖 Recipe
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sourdough starter
- 1-4 tablespoons water
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
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Combine all ingredients. In a stand mixer, mix on low to combine; if by hand, simply mix dough into a ball. Knead for 6 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough should pass the windowpane test. (If you take a small piece of dough, you should be able to stretch it out so that you can kind of see light through it.) Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 90-120 minutes, until doubled.
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Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Shape/pat/stretch dough into a rectangle 16x8 inches long. Facing dough along the 16-inch length, use a pizza cutter to cut dough into 10-12 pieces. Place on a parchment-lined pan, 2 inches apart. Spray with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 45 minutes, until doubled.
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Brush tops of breadsticks with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and/or herbs. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 375F. Serve warm.
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