Olive Garden Bread Sticks Copycat Recipe

Last week I found this recipe for bread sticks on Pinterest. I made the recipe following my own steps for mixing and rising.  I also halved the recipe, but it still made 15 bread sticks. Here is my modified version of that recipe for hand mixing, with the corrected yield.

Would that I were Sister Monika I.S.S.M., and could just pull chunks of dough off of the ball and get the right amounts for shaping in the number that I needed! I watched her shape rolls when I was in Waukesha last summer, and I was so impressed with her technique for shaping, as well as the way she added beauty to her bread baskets by garnishing some of the rolls with poppy seeds, some with sesame seeds, and then left some plain. So simple, but it made such an appealing presentation. 

 

Olive Garden Bread Sticks

1 ½ cups warm water

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp softened butter

4 ½ cups bread flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, mixing until all ingredients are in a ball. Cover and let rest for ten minutes. Knead on a floured surface for 5-8 minutes. Let rise until doubled. Gently punch down. Divide dough into 36 pieces. Roll each piece into a log. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise again until double. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately brush with a mixture of 3 tbsp melted butter, ¼ tsp. garlic powder, and ¼ tsp salt. Serve warm.

Dolly Diapers

In an earlier blog I wrote about making diapers for my granddaughters' Baby Alive dolls. Last week-end after Ari left, I went into the bedroom to clean up all of the dolly items she had carried there. I had a good laugh when I found a dirty diaper and poop all over the floor from the two "kids" - a wet disposable diaper, and one of my homemade diapers complete with yellow Play-Doh stain, and yellow Play-Doh poop. I would have called Ari and "scolded" her about leaving dirty diapers on the floor, if I had known she would take it in the right spirit.

I continue with my vision therapy. I can tell that I have made progress, but I can also tell how misaligned my eyes are when I do the exercises. And now I am wondering if I will in fact like the final results when therapy is done! A few weeks ago I was looking in the mirror, and saw what was more of a 3D image looking back at me. I was a bit freaked out. I thought to myself that I have a hard enough time seeing my fat as it is. In 3D, I may really feel huge.

I am currently reading Forgiving Mother, written by a fellow Schoenstatter, Marge Steinhage Fenelon. I do not necessarily need to read it in terms of my mom, but I wanted to read it to preview it for others whom I know have a need to forgive. I find myself having to stop frequently to pray for my own faults and for those I need to forgive as I read. Marge's scripture quotes and catechetical teaching are very compelling. Forgiveness is one of those things rarely preached from the pulpit. (One sermon on the topic by Fr. Bob Landsberger stands out, as does the private counsel provided me during an annual Opus Sanctorum Angelorum retreat).  We need to hear Marge's words about everyone being a child of God, no matter how evil they are. This is especially apropos given the persecution of Christians which I feel is imminent in our country.  We need to be able to say that we forgive those who persecute us, and see persecutors as children of God. And we need to hear Marge's words about vengeance belonging to God alone.