Sourdough Breadsticks

If you’ve ever been to Olive Garden, you know how popular their soft, garlicky breadsticks are served warm in baskets. Well, these Olive Garden copycat Sourdough Breadsticks are just as good if not better!

The recipe only uses basic ingredients and they come together easily so you can have fresh homemade breadsticks at home for your favorite Italian dinner. They’re especially good dipped in marinara sauce and served with pasta.

Along with a long fermentation to develop more flavor, the warm breadsticks are brushed with melted butter and garlic salt hot out of the oven. They’re pretty addictive!

Read through my detailed guide below for more photos and tips to get the best possible results.

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Why You’ll Love These Breadsticks

• Olive Garden Copycat: If you’re a fan of the restaurant chain, these homemade breadsticks taste as good as the real thing!
• Soft Breadsticks: I’m certainly a fan of grissini and other hard breadsticks like my Hard Sourdough Pretzel Rods, but these breadsticks are squishy and soft like Sourdough Brioche Bread.
• Simple Ingredients: The breadsticks are made with everyday ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry such as flour, water, salt, sugar, and garlic powder. Nothing fancy here!
• Easy to Make: I recommend using a stand mixer to mix the dough if you have one, but otherwise you don’t need any fancy equipment or techniques to make this recipe.
• Store Well: It’s easy to store and reheat the breadsticks over a few days so you can keep them around if you don’t eat them all in one sitting!

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👨‍🍳 Expert Baking Tips

• Mix long enough: The breadstick dough will start off quite shaggy and quickly become sticky and wet during mixing. Be sure to give it a long mix in order to develop enough gluten for the dough to hold together. This may require mixing up to 10-15 minutes!
• Brush melted butter right before serving: For shiny breadsticks that look like they came right out of the oven, warm them up slightly (if not serving right out of the oven), and brush the melted butter on top with a sprinkle of garlic salt. It’ll soft the breadsticks, give them a little shine, and smell so buttery.
• Weigh dough for even-sized breadsticks: I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a baking scale for the most accurate and consistent results. For equal-sized breadsticks
  (just like making Sourdough Dinner Rolls), you’ll need to weigh the total amount of dough and divide the number by 12. Then, use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 12 equal-sized portions.
• Shape equally: Like making Sourdough Croissants or sourdough baguettes, if you’re shaping is a little off before the final proof, the breadsticks can bake up a little mishapen. Try to keep them the same length and width with rounded ends (not pointy) so you get similar results.

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🛠 Tools Needed

See below for my tool recommendations for making these breadsticks.

• Baking Scale
  • Measuring your ingredients by weight instead of volume is essential so you get a more consistent and accurate bake.
• Stand Mixer with dough hook attachment (highly recommended)
  • If you have a stand mixer, it’ll help bring this dough together more easily. It’s relatively sticky at first and the stand mixer will do a lot of the hard work for you to build the gluten development.
  • Otherwise, you can mix and knead by hand.
• Bench Scraper
  • Assists with dividing the breadsticks.
• Baking sheets
  • The recipe makes 12 breadsticks. I bake six on two half-sheet pans.
• Half sheet proofing lids (optional)
  • If you use Nordic Ware baking sheets, the plastic lids are really helpful when you final proof the breadsticks. They help keep them from drying out, are reusable, and aren’t as annoying or sticky to use as plastic wrap.
• Pastry brush, for the melted butter topping

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, variations, and possible substitutes.

• Bread Flour
  • I use King Arthur Bread Flour at 12.7% protein, which gives the breadsticks a chewy texture and helps them rise tall. You can use all-purpose flour as a substitute if you need to.
  • If you want to make the breadsticks even heartier, substitute about 100g with whole wheat flour.
• Salt
• Sourdough Starter
  • Use active sourdough starter and not sourdough discard for this bread.
  • Don’t have a sourdough starter? Learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter and make a stronger sourdough starter with my top sourdough starter tips and why I maintain a small sourdough starter.
• Granulated sugar
  • There’s only a couple of tablespoons of sugar in this recipe to add a touch of sweetness and help fermentation move along a little faster. It also improves the color of the breadsticks so they brown better. However, you can substitute with honey (reduce the water by a bit) or
• Unsalted butter, melted
  • Unlike using room temperature butter for cinnamon rolls or hamburger buns, melted butter works just fine in this simple recipe, and you can pour it in last.
  • Use olive oil or vegan butter as plant-based alternatives.
• Water
  • I use room temperature or slightly warm water to mix into my dough.
• Garlic powder
  • Top the breadsticks with garlic powder and salt for a simple, effective topping that tastes like Olive Garden! But you can use onion powder or leave out if you don’t have.
• Fresh or dried parsley or Italian seasoning, for topping (optional)
  • Use freshly chopped parsley, dried parsley, or dried Italian herb seasoning for sprinkling on top for some color and freshness. This is optional, but I think they look better with it!

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⏰ Sample Baking Schedule

This is just one baking schedule for making these rolls for an evening dinner. However, the steps are flexible, depending on your own schedule needs, environment (like temperature), and starter strength.

For example, you can extend the proofing time in the refrigerator or build the levain with a different ratio of flour/water so it rises slower for your schedule (like the night before).

Plus, the breadsticks store extremely well, so you can make them and reheat them before serving.

If making for a holiday like Thanksgiving, I’d personally plan to bake them the night before or early in the morning so you can just reheat them slightly!

Steps	Time
1. Make the Levain	9:00am
2. Mix the Dough	1:00-1:30pm
3. Bulk Fermentation	1:30-7:30pm (about 5-6 hours at 78ºF, but can vary depending on temperature)
4. Overnight Proof	7:30pm-next day (or up to 48 hours in fridge)
5. Divide and Shape	12:30pm
6. Final Proof	1:00pm-5:00pm (3-4 hours at 78ºF, but can vary depending on temperature and how long your first fermentation went)
7. Bake	5:00pm-5:20pm

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How to Make Sourdough Breadsticks

Follow this visual step-by-step guide to help make these soft Sourdough Breadsticks that taste just like Olive Garden!

1. Make the Levain

Mix 30 grams of active sourdough starter, 30 grams of bread flour, and 30 grams of room-temperature water in a clean jar.

Cover and set it in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about 4-5 hours until it’s bubbly and ripe. The levain should double in size during this time.

2. Mix the Dough

Once your levain has doubled in size, dump all of your dough ingredients (except the melted butter) to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.

Begin mixing on medium-low speed (image 1 below).

At first, the dough will be dry and shaggy, but it will eventually come together into a sticky, wet dough after a few minutes.

While mixing, slowly pour in the melted butter (2). The dough may be oily at first and separate, but keep mixing to incorporate the butter.

Once all of the butter is added, it’ll continue to be quite sticky (3).

Continue mixing on medium speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough smooths and easily falls off the dough hook in one mass when it’s lifted out (4). Keep mixing if the dough tears easily.

Add a TBS of flour at a time while mixing if your dough never smooths out and still seems wet.

3. Bulk Fermentation (First Proof)

Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl and cover for bulk fermentation, which will take about 6 hours at 78ºF.

If your dough and environment are colder, bulk fermentation will take longer. Conversely, in warmer conditions, the dough will ferment faster.

I don’t usually need to add folds to this dough, but if yours seems very slack or a little weak at the end of mixing, you can add a couple of folds separated by an hour during fermentation.

Bulk fermentation is complete when this dough has doubled in size, is smoother, and domes in your bowl.

4. Overnight Proof

Transfer the dough to the refrigerator for a cold, overnight proof or up to 48 hours.

The dough will continue to ferment slowly in the refrigerator, which helps develop flavor and allows you to bake on your own schedule.

5. Divide and Shape

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.

Punch down the dough and dump it out onto a clean work surface. Weigh the total weight of the dough and divide by 12 to get equal-sized breadsticks. Mine are typically around 60-65g each.

Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces and lightly flour a work surface.

Then, flatten the dough into a rough oval (image 1 below) and roll the dough up into a short log (2).

Lightly flour the palms of your hands and use your palms to roll the breadsticks out into a long log, using the surface tension of the counter (3). The dough should feel tacky. If sticky at all, add more flour to your work surface and your hands.

Roll the breadsticks into 8-9 inch logs with rounded ends (not pointy like baguettes, 4).

Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough and space evenly on the prepared baking sheets. I do six breadsticks on each sheet pan so they have plenty of space to rise and bake.

6. Final Proof

Cover the baking sheets with lids or plastic wrap and place them in a warm location for the final proof like the oven with a light on.

At 78ºF, the final proof typically takes 3-4 hours, but it depends on your environment and how much the dough proofed during the first ferment.

At the end of the final proof, the breadsticks will increase in size and rise in the pan, be poofy, and feel full of air if you poke one with a floured finger.

7. Bake

Place two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC).

Bake both pans for 20-23 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the tops just start to brown.

As soon as they come out of the oven, melt 2 TBS of butter, and brush the melted butter on top of your breadsticks so they shine and stay soft. Then, and a sprinkle of garlic powder and salt. You can add some chopped herbs to the melted butter if you like.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes and serve warm with marinara sauce or your favorite Italian dinner. You could even top them with a bit of freshly grated parmesan if you want cheesy breadsticks!

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How to Store & Serve

These soft sourdough breadsticks store very well!

The breadsticks keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days, but will lose some moisture over time. Reheat them slightly before serving.

Finally, you can freeze baked breadsticks in a freezer-safe bag. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and reheat them in a 300ºF (149ºC) toaster oven, toaster, or oven until warmed through.

If you’re looking to recreate the Olive Garden experience, I highly recommend serving the breadsticks warm with Caesar salad and spaghetti, lasagna, chicken parmesan, or other classic Italian American meals.

Otherwise, the breadsticks are excellent as simple breadstick sides with most dinners, including pot roast, quiche, chicken, turkey, brisket, or soups and stews.

I also think breadsticks are a great appetizer or party snack for football games served with a dipping sauce like marinara or ranch. Other great sourdough party snacks include Sourdough Pretzels, Sourdough Garlic Knots, and Hard Sourdough Pretzel Rods.

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❓FAQs:

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