Pizza Joint Breadsticks

This past weekend, we traveled to Southern Utah for a little getaway. Friday night, we went to a great pizza place. They served these breadsticks, swirled and baked on wooden sticks. Much more impressive than regular breadsticks that just lay there in a lame wicker basket. These sticks had personality.

The cyclist and I discussed how we could make these at home. I have a breadstick recipe that tastes great. It just needed a cosmetic make-over.

The cyclist had to engineer a device that would allow us to bake them on wooden dowels in our standard size oven without leaving a flat spot from sitting on a cooking sheet. They couldn't stand upright like they would in a commercial brick oven. He plotted and planned and 30 seconds later came up with a solution.

We have a three car garage. One side is full of bikes. Fortunately for this project, the other side is full of woodworking tools. No, my car is not parked in the middle, but we are making progress. He has recently moved his porcelain doll collection into the basement. Jenn and Kevin, come over some time, he's getting the curio cabinet all set up.

On his way home from work tonight, he made a quick stop by the home improvement store, spent under $3.00, and picked up some 5/16" dowels (he claims size doesn't matter), and found some scrap 2 by 4's in the garage. He used a hand drill and drilled the holes one drill bit size larger than the dowels (so they were 21/64ths).
If you don't have a handy husband or neighbor that can make this contraption for you, you can still make these breadsticks. Just bake them on the stick directly on a pan. If you don't have $3.oo and a ride to the hardware store to get the dowel, you could still make them without the stick. But if they are just going to lay there like boring breadsticks, the least you could do is line the lame wicker basket with a loud holiday print napkin.

1 T. Yeast
1½ cups warm water
3 cups flour
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
Seasonings (we like "Chef Tom's", or garlic powder and Parmesan)

Preheat oven to 350*.
In bowl of electric mixer, fitted with dough hook, combine yeast, water, and 1 T sugar. Let sit for 3 minutes. Add remaining sugar, salt and flour. Mix on high for 3 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 5 equal pieces. Roll out like snakes. Spray dowels with cooking spray. Wrap dough around middle of stick. Place dowels in 2 by 4's over a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and season as desired. Rest 10 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and mouth-watering.
If you are a mother I don't need to explain why this child is wearing a Halloween costume in the middle of November.

Serve with marinara sauce, ranch dressing or just eat it like corn on the cob.