Divine breadsticks

I made some pasta last night for dinner and I wanted to make a treat to go with it. I thought about making a cheesy garlic bread, but decided on a more figure friendly cousin, the breadstick. I found this recipe for Divine breadsticks from My Kitchen Cafe. I have had this recipe bookmarked for awhile, and was happy to have a chance to try it out at last.

The result?! I think these breadsticks were the star of dinner last night. They completely outshined the main course! =P They're so quick and easy to make. They're soft on the inside and have a slight crunch on the bottom from the oil in the pan. mmm..yum! Here's the recipe.

Divine Breadsticks
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe
makes 20 breadsticks
total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp of herbes de provence (see note)
2 tbsp olive oil for the pan (see note)

1. Combine the sugar, yeast and warm water together. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until it's frothy.

2. Mix the flour, salt, and herbs together. Gradually add in the water mixture. Stir until a rough dough is formed. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes and allow the dough to stand for 10 minutes.

3. Coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut into strips. (see note)

4. To make the twists, hold the middle part of the strip and wrap the ends around each other. Continue with the rest of the dough. Sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese, or any other flavoring you prefer.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes or until the breadsticks are a light golden brown.

Note:

• The original recipe does not call for the herbes de provence, but I added it to create a subtle flavor in the dough. I think I might add more next time.
  
• The original recipe says to use butter instead of olive oil. I didn't want to bother with melting the butter, so I used olive oil instead.
• The dough after resting 10 minutes was still very sticky for me. I coated the top and bottom with flour in order to be able to roll it out.