Homemade Breadsticks

For as long as I can remember, my Friday nights growing up were pizza night.  Not a $5 hot-n-ready or a Howie Nowie.  Oh no!  We had homemade pizza with doughy delicious crust and topped with whatever my mom had in the fridge (or garden).  I never understood why other kids my age didn't like the crust of their pizzas.  I thought the crust was the BEST part!  It didn't take long before my mom realized it was such a hit and she began making extra for breadsticks! They became a welcome addition to Friday nights; sometimes even a mid-week meal!

My mom's dough recipe came from her mom, my Grandma VanOstran. Glenna to her friends, Gramma Great to my children and just Gram to me. She says she always used this recipe. She made pizza a lot over the years. She never made breadsticks like my mom, but her kids loved the crust! Looking through her well-worn recipes in her recipe box, she says this recipe must have come from someone. It was handwritten; that means someone gave it to her. If she'd found it somewhere it would have been clipped and glued to the card like many of the others in the box. She suspects she got it from her sister-in-law Marge, wife of Ralph Fultz. Marge was a good cook based on Gram's stories and remembrances. If this recipe is from Great Aunt Marge, then we all agree!

So, gather your ingredients and let's make some dough!

Ingredients:

1 package of yeast (or 2 teaspoons of instant dry)
1 ¼ cup of warm water
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients, knead dough thoroughly, cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch dough down, cover, and let rise again. The time needed for this will vary depending on how warm your kitchen is. Yes, you'll notice my bread maker in the photo. Mine has a dough setting! I'm not ashamed to say I just dump all the ingredients in, hit start, and walk away. A short 1:10 later and my dough is ready. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! 

Once your dough is ready, work it onto your pizza pan and top with all those things that you love on pizza OR.... as I did here.... roll out some breadsticks. Don't worry. You can't hurt it! It's great dough to work with! 

For breadsticks you'll want some butter, garlic salt and shaky cheese... I mean parmesan. I guess the kids don't call it that anymore. They used to! Back when they were "little."  Now they are so big...

Anyway, melt your butter, add garlic salt to taste, and roll those bad boys in that melted, buttery deliciousness! Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and eat until you burst! Yum!