Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

When I moved back to Southern California from a four-year stint in Portland (Oregon, not Maine), I was horrified to find there was nary a Papa Murphy’s near me. The closest one (only one, I believe) is about 30 miles away. One of the things I loved most about Papa Murphy’s was their cheesy bread. I almost never got a pizza without buying cheesy bread – normally because I had a free coupon, but still, I almost never went without it. That being said, I found myself gravitating more toward the cheesy bread than the pizza. I would almost always fill up on cheesy bread and barely have enough room for even one slice of pizza. I used to go to Papa Murphy’s monthly, if not more. So it was an adjustment being without down here in SoCal.

I was browsing Pinterest recently and found a recipe by Grandbaby Cakes (aka the cutest website ever – really – you should check it out!) that looked near darn close to Papa Murphy’s cheesy bread, so I decided to give it a whirl. I mean what goes better with a Saturday night movie night than cheesy, garlicky, buttery bites of bread?

ingredients.

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp. dry active yeast
¾ to 1 c. lukewarm water
1 T. olive oil
4 T. salted butter
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 c. Italian Shredded Cheese blend
½ to 1 T. Parmesan cheese
parsley for garnish
Optional: Warm pizza sauce for serving

directions.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, garlic salt, sugar, Italian seasoning, and yeast and slowly add in water.
Mix together until dough is created. Using your hands knead for one minute and form a ball. Spread 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a separate bowl and transfer pizza dough to that bowl. Cover bowl with a plastic wrap, a towel or paper towel for 1 hour or until dough has doubled.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Roll out dough on a smooth surface and transfer the dough to your pizza stone or baking sheet. Add butter, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to a small bowl and microwave until melted. Whisk together then brush on dough.
Next sprinkle dough with shredded cheese then Parmesan cheese. Lastly, sprinkle with parsley.
Bake for 15-17 minutes or until dough has browned and cheese is melted and golden. (After 16 minutes I was too eager to let the dough brown so I took it out of the oven but it probably could have stayed in there another few minutes.) Cut bread into sticks and serve with warm pizza sauce if desired.

I promise you I’ve never said this in my life but you can probably cut down to two or three tablespoons of butter in this recipe and still be fine. I’ve never believed it possible for there to be “too much” butter in a recipe (or cheese, for that matter), and I’m not going to go ahead and say that now, but I don’t think you would be sorely disappointed if you cut down on the butter a bit.

You can probably swap out bread flour for the all-purpose flour in this recipe if you have any in your kitchen/pantry. I’ve made some excellent pizza crusts in my day using bread flour and some Italian herbs.

This “snack” is perfect for two people to share–more if you’re having it as an appetizer only. I do suppose if you’re super hungry you could eat the entire recipe on your own as well.

While this recipe wasn’t quite as good as Papa Murphy’s in my opinion (because I basically worship their cheesy bread), it was very good nonetheless. It was the perfect pick for a late-night craving and went great with movie night. Would I make this again? You better believe it.