Rustic Cheese Bread Sticks

In combination with our whole wheat penne and homemade spaghetti sauce last night we had bread sticks. I decided it was time to try using yeast in something. It isn't that I have a fear of using yeast really, it is just that with the fantastic homemade bread my mom makes I feared the result of even trying to use yeast would leave what I made only tasting sub par. 

However, my desire for homemade bread sticks was stronger than that fear last night. So, using what we had at home, I came up with these rustic cheese filled bread sticks. Now, they certainly could have been more perfect looking and the cheese could have been completely concealed...but I left the seam facing up so there would be a little peak into that cheese filled core. Mmmm. 

So here is what I did:

Rustic Cheese Bread Sticks

 Ingredients:

 

2 1/2 c. flour

1 c. warm water (plus additional if needed)

1 tbsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tbsp olive oil

cheese

garlic powder

3 tbsp butter

Method:

Combine water, sugar and yeast. Let yeast become active.

Almost there...

There we go. 

I waited until there was a film across the whole top. All nice and bubbly. Add in flour, olive oil and salt. Knead into a soft dough, adding additional water if mixture seems too dry - be careful to add in slowly so as not to make too sticky. 

Let dough sit for about 10 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 450°

Roll out dough into long strip and cut in two.

Place cheese in center of each rolled out slab. (I used shredded, pieces may have been easier).

Pull sides up and pinch tightly. 

The better you seal it the less they will pop apart - however, even if you want some cheese exposed make sure you are still pinching fairly tight. 

Cut into bread sticks and pinch ends closed tightly. I made 8...they were pretty big bread sticks - 12 thinner bread sticks could probably be produced from this recipe. 

Melt butter and add garlic. Brush on bread sticks. (Remember I put the seam facing up, but you could also put it towards the pan if you want them more tightly sealed.)

Allow fully formed bread sticks to sit for a few minutes. Place bread sticks in the oven once all of them have been coated with butter. Bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before enjoying. Brush with additional butter if desired. 

Yum! 

We had some of these left over since they were so big, but they also reheated really well :)

Besides our bread sticks and pasta we also had some pumpkin martinis that Joel made:

They tasted like liquid pumpkin pie.

Mmmm. 

I love fall :)