These cheesy breadsticks are soft from ’00’ Pizza Flour and chewy from semolina flour. They taste great even before you realize that each one is packed with pliable mozzarella cheese. The popular cafeteria snack known as Bosco Sticks—baked with butter, dusted with Parmesan, and served with marinara sauce for dipping—is where we got the idea for this recipe. Although eating them quickly won’t be a problem, they’re best enjoyed just out of the oven when the cheese is at its meltedest.
Components Dough
- King Arthur “00” Pizza Flour 2 cups (232g) 1/2 cup (82g) Arthur Semolina Flour, King
- 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- Optional: Add 1/4 tsp King Arthur Pizza Dough Flavor
- One table spoonful of salt
- One cup (227g) of warm water
- For construction, use 1 1/2 tablespoons (19g) of extra virgin olive oil.
For assembly
- Eight pieces of string cheese made of mozzarella
- One tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons + one teaspoon (18g) of optional Formaggio Italiano
- Cheese and Herb Blend divided*
- *See “tips,” below. 1 cup (227g) marinara sauce, for serving.
Instructions
- To create the dough, measure your flour by carefully spooning it into a cup and brushing aside any excess, or weigh it. Mix the flours, yeast, Pizza Dough Flavor, and salt together in a big bowl. To form a shaggy dough, add the oil and water and whisk. Next, use a bowl scraper or flexible spatula to stir the dough aggressively until it smooths out.
- After 30 minutes of covering and leaving the dish alone, fold the bowl as follows: Select a piece of dough, lift it up a little, and then push it into the center. After six to eight repetitions of this technique around the bowl, flip the dough over so the smooth side is facing up.
-
Cover the dough, set it aside for 15 minutes, then repeat the bowl fold.
-
Repeat step 3 once more so that you’ve performed 3 folds over the last hour. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise, undisturbed, for 1 hour, until puffy and voluminous.
- To construct the breadsticks, dust the dough’s surface with flour, then move it to a lightly floured surface and cut it into 8 equal pieces, each weighing about 70g. Working with one piece of dough at a time, lightly dust your fingers and push or stretch each one into a rough 5″ to 6″ x 3″ rectangle, with the long side facing you.
-
Pour 2 tablespoons (15g) of the Formaggio Italiano cheese blend, if using, into a shallow bowl. Place a piece of string cheese into the blend, pressing to adhere it as best you can. Position the string cheese on top of the dough, sprinkling any bare sections with a little more of the cheese blend.
- To cover the string cheese’s ends, fold in the dough’s left and right edges. Now, totally enclose the cheese with the dough by rolling it up from the long side. After sealing any seams with a forceful pinch, carefully roll the tube around the surface to try to smooth it out. Proceed to place the remaining dough and cheese in a Sub Sandwich Roll Pan (see to the “tips” section below). Once puffy, cover and let rise for 45 to 1 hour.In the interim, center the rack of the oven and warm it to 425°F.
-
Place the Silicone Baking Mold on an ovenproof wire cooling rack set on a baking sheet. (If you don’t have a wire rack, place the mold directly on the baking sheet.)
-
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until golden brown. Breadsticks will have shrunk slightly in the oven.
-
In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of the Formaggio Italiano with the olive oil. Add any extra blend to the marinara sauce and warm gently.
-
Brush the cheesy breadsticks with the olive oil mixture when they come out of the oven. Let cool slightly, then serve warm with marinara sauce for dipping. These are best served fresh!
Tips from our Bakers
-
We find the Sub Sandwich Roll Pan produces breadsticks with the nicest, most even shapes and the crispest bottoms. But if you don’t have one, you can bake the breadsticks directly on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (They might not be as neat-looking!) Check them for doneness after 15 minutes