Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks

I love garlic. And I love cheese. These breadsticks are a great way to enjoy both :) This recipe is from Lauren's Latest, an amazing food blog with creative recipes and beautiful pictures. You can make your own pizza dough (Lauren's recipe is listed at the end of this post), or you can use my pizza dough recipe found here, or you can buy pizza dough at your local grocery store. It is usually sold by the bakery - fresh or frozen. I typically make my own dough, but occasionally when I don't have time, I use the bakery pizza dough. It is pretty good too!
Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks
recipe from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:
Pizza Dough (1/2 recipe below - or- store bought pizza dough)
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese {use the real stuff!}
1/4 pound grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside. {If you don’t have a pizza stone, use an upside down cookie sheet.} Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside. Roll the pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.} Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough. Top with Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.
Bake 9-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden. Remove from oven and cool 1-2 minutes before cutting. Serve hot, with marinara.

This was great hot out of the oven, but just as good heated up in the toaster oven the next day. A perfect Friday night snack, or quick dinner. My kiddos loved it too.

Here is the pizza dough recipe from Lauren's Latest. I like that she uses bread flour in her dough, giving a chewier crust.

Basic Pizza Dough
yield: 2-12 inch pizzas, approximately 1 lb. of dough

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup…depending on the heat & humidity}

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix.

Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn’t stick to your hands.

Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on high to knead for 6 minutes. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with, and the bowl should be clean.

Lightly grease a separate bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.

Enjoy!