A NEAR DISASTER!!! Yep. I rarely make baking mistakes. I swear, I’m so very careful. But I was rollin’ along and made the dough, worked it nicely and easily into breadsticks, popped them into the oven, turned around and – – uh, oh.

I had grabbed the WRONG BOWL of melted butter.

Whoa.

My mind froze and flashed like lightning, and came to the realization, that I had added the basting butter, not the butter for the batter. 

Like 8 TABLESPOONS of butter into the dough instead of – – – 2!!!

oops.

I wanted to stick sharp pencils in my ears.

But I like my pencils. And my ears. So I decided to just let them bake as what else could I do at that point, and just see what would happen.

Here was my wonderful start!!! I got such a nice foam on the yeast! I was so happy!!

 

 

The last of the dough! I easily could’ve gotten three more out of it, but they fit perfectly on my half-sheet, and I knew that these would be the ones my hubby would go for first! 😉 He’s a wee bit greedy. He loves my cooking, bless his heart.

 

 

The first sheet after baking!

 

It worked!!!!!! It actually didn’t puddle into a pile of gooey alien-ish sloop! It worked!!!!

 

I didn’t know how they would taste, but they sure looked pretty and smelled AWESOME, and I really loved the deeper, richer color vs. the “anemic” colored ones that you usually get. 😉

 

 

The second batch done in my upper oven always produces a less-browned outside, but there’s still a very nice golden color to them and not pale at all!

 

 

My hubby slowly and cautiously entered the kitchen, knowing what had happened, and begged for one! Yay!!! I have a guinea pig to test them on! 😉

The verdict came in with an overwhelming thumbs UP! He quickly grabbed another before I could stop him, and then snuck a third!!!! I’d say that they were a surprising success!! 😉

They were pillowy-soft, with a wonderful, delicate outside crust.

And that salty garlic butter….need I say more? 😀

 

 

Even I approved of them, which surprised me, because I more prefer denser, harder, chewier breadsticks myself that are almost bagel-like.

But these truly were wonderful! So no matter how you enjoy them, I’ve added notes to the recipe to achieve just that.

Pillowy soft, medium density, or dense and chewy! Something for everyone! 😉 😀

 

 

So a near disaster was averted – – this time. And my “mistake”, according to my hubby, made for the best breadsticks he had ever had! He LOVED them!! I did, too, but I still probably would’ve preferred them to be a bit more dense. We all like things how we like them! 😉 So I’m really glad this all happened, and now know how to implement this recipe into other useful breads such as “butter buns” (hamburger buns like Culver’s!), soft hotdog buns, mini slider rolls, etc.! I guess some mistakes are just meant to happen! 😉

So I hope that you find this recipe, along with the suggested adjustments, helpful for whatever you are needing and wanting to bake , too!

We VERY much enjoyed ours with a nice pot of soup that I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow! So, until then, I’ll see you all later! ~Kelly

 

 

Yield: 13-14 breadsticks

Soft Buttery Garlic Breadsticks

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1/4 cup warm milk
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 2 Tbl. sugar
• 3½ cups all purpose flour, add more only if needed
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted, (*see note below)
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

For Butter Topping:

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• Garnish dusting with super finely grated parmesan cheese, (just grate right over the breadsticks), optional

Instructions

In large mixer bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water and warm milk, sprinkle over yeast, stir in, and allow to sit for 10 minutes to activate yeast until foamy.

Add flour, salt and melted butter to yeast mixture. Mix with paddle attachment (or wooden spoon) until fully combined.

Knead dough for a few minutes just until dough is smooth in consistency. If too sticky, lightly dust surface with flour, or if using a dough hook in mixer bowl add a Tbl. flour at a time. Don't add too much flour! Do not overknead!

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper. Cut or pull off pieces of dough and roll out into 10-12 sticks half the thickness that you want them to end up when done. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a lightweight towel, and let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour to allow dough to rest and rise. *I always place bread to rise in my oven with the light on.

Preheat your oven to 400º F. (*Remove baking sheet from oven first if using to rise dough!)

When oven has preheated, place the baking sheet in oven and bake breadsticks for 6-7 minutes.

While breadsticks are baking, microwave ½ cup butter, 2 teaspoons garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt.

After breadsticks have baked for 6 - 7 minutes, brush the bread sticks with half of the butter mixture. Then continue to bake for 5-6 more minutes, until deep golden.

After removing breadsticks from oven, immediately brush the other half of the butter onto the sticks.

Finely grate parmesan cheese over the breadsticks if desired.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

*For pillowy soft breadsticks use the amount of butter as written for the dough. (1 stick). For a medium-density breadstick, use 4-5 Tablespoons butter. For dense, chewy breadsticks, use only 2 Tbl. butter and all water instead of part warm milk.