America's Most Wanted Recipes - Olive Garden Bread Sticks

America's Most Wanted Recipes - Sage Richardson

The amount of times I've heard people say, "Man, I'm craving those Olive Garden bread sticks!" is immeasurable. I myself had never tried them until recently, and for the first time ever, I can agree with the statement above! So I grabbed my handy dandy recipe book, and voilà! There was the copycat recipe, renown for being "fast, simple, and virtually indistinguishable from the original" (Douglas, xi). Now, I'm here to share it with you!

Chopped butter

Ingredients (bread sticks)

- 1 loaf frozen bread dough
- Cooking spray
- Garlic powder (for dusting)
- Dried oregano (for sprinkling)

(Douglas, 136)

While the recipe calls for store-bought frozen bread dough, I decided to challenge myself and create the bread dough myself. Therefore I substituted the store-bought bread dough with homemade bread dough, according to my great grandma Lucille's recipe.

Mixing in butter (as for pie crust)

Ingredients (bread dough)

- 3 c. flour
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 lb. butter
- 1/4 c. warm water
- 1 package yeast
- 3/4 c. milk
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
- 1 additional cup flour

Yeast before

Instructions (bread dough)

- Mix dry ingredients, excepting the additional cup of flour.
- Add yeast to water, let sit until it's risen.
- Cut up butter, put in as you would for pie crust.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
- Mix in mixer until a dough forms.
- Add additional cup flour, mix until dough ball forms.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Cut dough ball into 4 equal parts.
- Cut each of those into 8 equal parts, making each chunk of dough look like a slice of pie.
-  Roll each piece from the wide end forward, forming a crescent      shape.

Yeast after

- Let stand for 2-3 hours to rise at room temperature.

(Lucille Bennett)

After I made the bread dough, I continued with the bread stick recipe.


Instructions (bread sticks)

- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Hold can of cooking spray about 8 inches from rolls and lightly spray the top of each one.
- Dust evenly with garlic powder.

- Sprinkle evenly with oregano.

Before bread stick topping

- Place in oven, cook for 10-15 minutes

Rolls rising

(Douglas, 136)

All in all, this variation of Olive Garden bread sticks was absolutely delicious! I served it with "alfredo and marinara dipping sauce," as recommended by the author (Douglas, 136). In comparison to the real thing, the topping wasn't as salty as the restaurant kind. But I do like the roll rather than the bread stick, because the roll is fluffier and a bit sweeter. Despite the slight differences, this recipe definitely conquered my craving! Have you had any persistent cravings lately? If so, what for? Thanks for reading, I hope you can find this recipe helpful!

Final product!

Douglas, Ron. America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants. 1st ed. New York N.Y.: Atria Paperback, 2009. Print.