Sourdough Breadsticks

My sourdough breadsticks are pillowy, buttery, and garlicky. They’re my take on an Olive Garden breadstick and a Fazoli’s breadstick combined but made from scratch. My husband and I love them served alongside homemade soups, pizzas, and pasta dishes!

I’ve been making these sourdough breadsticks for years and finally wanted to get them on the blog. We love making them in place of buying pre-made!

For a restaurant meal, I highly recommend serving them alongside fettuccine alfredo, chicken gnocchi soup, or homemade pizza. Those are some of our favorites!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

1. Restaurant-Quality Flavor: Each bite is full of sea salt, garlic, and butter. What’s not to love?!
2. Simple Steps: The steps are easy to follow, even for beginners.
3. Super Soft and Fluffy: They’ve got the best texture if you let them rise until doubled or tripled in size after shaping.

Ingredients

Breadsticks

• sourdough discard: make sure it’s fed and active so it can ferment the dough
• sea salt: fine sea salt is the best option for this recipe
• water: filtered water is best so it doesn’t mess with the sourdough cultures
• avocado oil: olive oil or melted butter also works
• all-purpose flour: I use organic, unbleached but you can use any kind of all-purpose

Garlic Butter Topping

• butter: salted works best but unsalted will work
• garlic powder: make sure it’s pure garlic powder, not garlic salt
• sea salt: fine sea salt is the best option for this recipe

Tools You May Need

• large baking sheet
• mixing bowl
• small saucepan

How to Make Sourdough Breadsticks

Prep Your Starter

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: If your starter isn’t already fed and bubbly, feed it 4-12 hours before starting this recipe to ensure it’s active. I recommend feeding it a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when you make this recipe.

Example 2:1 feeding: 1/2 cup flour + 1/4 cup water added to your entire starter jar (you can fill your jar up to half full, double this feeding or cut it in half depending on how much starter you want your jar). Let starter jar sit at room temperature until it’s bubbly and has risen. Then measure out the amount of starter you need and begin this recipe!

Make the Dough 

Add fed sourdough starter, sea salt, water, avocado oil, and flour to a mixing bowl. Mix to combine. Use hands to finishing incorporating ingredients and bring it into a dough ball.

Either knead the dough for 2-3 minutes by hand OR do the stretch-and-fold method (pick one).

To do the stretch and folds, simply pull dough upward along the outside edge of the dough and fold it into the middle, do this all around the dough 1-2 times. Let dough sit for 10-15 minutes and repeat for a 2nd stretch and fold.

Bulk Ferment

After kneading OR stretch-and-folding, place a damp kitchen towel or a lid loosely on the bowl. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 10-12 hours to bulk ferment. Please see notes below for troubleshooting.

The dough needs to double or triple in size during this time. Depending on the time of year and temperature of your house, the time will vary. Add a few more hours if needed until doubled or tripled in size. When it’s finished bulk fermenting if you need more time before continuing the recipe, place dough in the fridge up to 48 hours.

Shape Breadsticks & Rise

Remove fermented dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured counter top. 

Divide dough into 6 pieces about the same size. Roll out each one with your hands to form long sticks. They may be different lengths, that’s okay, they’re homemade! 

Place breadsticks on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper so they aren’t touching and have room to rise. Cover with a dry kitchen towel.

Let rise at room temperature on the counter for 3-4 hours until doubled in size and puffy.

Bake

Once breadsticks have risen, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add butter, garlic powder, and sea salt into a small saucepan. Melt over medium heat then brush half of the mixture on top of breadsticks. Save other half for after baking.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and fully baked. Remove from oven and brush with rest of garlic butter mixture. Serve immediately, enjoy! 

What to Serve with Breadsticks

• Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
• Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
• Creamy Parmesan Italian Sausage Soup
• Creamy Cajun Chicken Soup
• Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup Recipe
• Sourdough Alabama White BBQ Chicken Bacon Pizza
• Italian Chopped Salad

Molly’s Tips

1. Read the recipe before getting started so you know what to expect.
2. Wait to make any adjustments until you’ve made it once.
3. The dough needs to at least double during the bulk ferment and rise for soft, fluffy breadsticks.
4. Use all of the garlic butter mixture for the best flavor.

How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat

Storing Instructions

Store sourdough bread sticks in an airtight, preferably glass, container or a baggie. They’ll last at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Freezing Instructions

Store cooled down breadsticks in a freezer-safe baggie or container for up to 3 months in the freezer. No need to thaw before reheating.

How to Reheat

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and heat until warm. If you’re reheating frozen breadsticks, no need to thaw before reheating.

Recipe FAQs

Baker’s Timeline

This is just an example timeline:

• Friday 7pm: make dough & knead/stretch-and-fold
  • overnight ferment
• Saturday 7am or 8am: place dough in the fridge until you’re ready to continue
• Saturday 12pm: get dough out of fridge
• Saturday 1pm: shape breadsticks
  • 2nd rise
• Saturday 5pm: bake & enjoy!

More Sourdough Sides

• Cheesy Sourdough Garlic Pull Apart Bread
• Sourdough Pesto Garlic Bread
• Sourdough Garlic Knots
• Sourdough Steakhouse Rolls
• Sourdough Crescent Rolls
• Honey Sourdough Cornbread

Did you make this recipe? If so, I’d be so grateful if you left a review below!

Recipe

Molly LaFontaine

Sourdough Breadsticks

My sourdough breadsticks are pillowy, buttery, and garlicky. They're my take on an Olive Garden breadstick and a Fazoli's breadstick combined but made from scratch. My husband and I love them served alongside homemade soups, pizzas, and pasta dishes!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 18 minutes mins

Hands-Free Fermenting & Rising 16 hours hrs

Total Time 16 hours hrs 38 minutes mins

Servings: 6 breadsticks

Step-By-Step Mode

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Ingredients

  

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Breadsticks

• 1/4 cup fed sourdough starter (active and bubbly)
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup water (filtered is best)
• 2 Tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I use organic, unbleached but any works)

Garlic Butter Topping

• 3 Tbsp butter (I use salted)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

Prep Your Starter

1. BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: If your starter isn’t already fed and bubbly, feed it 4-12 hours before starting this recipe to ensure it’s active. I recommend feeding it a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when you make this recipe.
2. Example 2:1 feeding: 1/2 cup flour + 1/4 cup water added to your entire starter jar (you can fill your jar up to half full, double this feeding or cut it in half depending on how much starter you want your jar). Let starter jar sit at room temperature until it’s bubbly and has risen. Then measure out the amount of starter you need and begin this recipe!

Make the Dough

1. Add fed sourdough starter, sea salt, water, avocado oil, and flour to a mixing bowl. Mix to combine. Use hands to finishing incorporating ingredients and bring it into a dough ball.
2. Either knead the dough for 2-3 minutes by hand OR do the stretch-and-fold method (pick one).
3. To do the stretch and folds, simply pull dough upward along the outside edge of the dough and fold it into the middle, do this all around the dough 1-2 times. Let dough sit for 10-15 minutes and repeat for a 2nd stretch and fold.

Bulk Ferment

1. After kneading OR stretch-and-folding, place a damp kitchen towel or a lid loosely on the bowl. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 10-12 hours to bulk ferment. Please see notes below for troubleshooting.
2. The dough needs to double or triple in size during this time. Depending on the time of year and temperature of your house, the time will vary. Add a few more hours if needed until doubled or tripled in size. When it’s finished bulk fermenting if you need more time before continuing the recipe, place dough in the fridge up to 48 hours.

Shape Breadsticks & Rise

1. Remove fermented dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured counter top.
2. Divide dough into 6 pieces about the same size. Roll out each one, with your hands, to form long sticks. They may be different lengths, that’s okay, they’re homemade!
3. Place breadsticks on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper so they aren’t touching and have room to rise. Cover with a dry kitchen towel.
4. Let breadsticks rise at room temperature on the counter for 3-4 hours until doubled in size and puffy.

Bake & Enjoy

1. Once breadsticks have risen, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Add butter, garlic powder, and sea salt into a small saucepan. Melt over medium heat then brush half of the mixture on top of breadsticks. Save other half for after baking.
3. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and fully baked.
4. Remove from oven and brush with rest of garlic butter mixture. Serve immediately, enjoy!

Notes

TROUBLESHOOTING HELP

 

Issue #1:

 

What to do if your dough isn’t doubling in size during the bulk ferment and/or 2nd rise – If your dough doesn’t look like it’s doing anything halfway through either bulk ferment or 2nd rise, you need to place it in a slightly warmer area or give it a few more hours. This can be in a turned-off oven with the light on and oven door open, or you can slightly warm the oven to about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, then turn it off and place your dough inside with the door shut. Never leave the oven on, even on the keep warm setting, with fermenting dough inside.

 

 

Issue #2:

 

What to do if your dough won’t double in size even in the warmer area (and your baked goods are dense) – If your dough doesn’t double even in the warmer area for either the bulk ferment and/or the second rise, your starter is too weak to ferment the dough even in a warm environment. Don’t worry this can be fixed!

 

To fix this, you will want to leave your starter out on the counter for 2 days and feed your entire starter jar every 12 hours at a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water (example: 1/2 cup unbleached flour + 1/4 cup filtered or bottled water, double this or cut it in half depending on how much starter you have, only fill your jar half full). Remove some starter before doing the feedings to make room if needed.

 

Make sure you’re using unbleached flour and filtered or bottled water to do this. If you don’t, it will affect your starter strength. Reverse osmosis water (or any water that uses salt in the filter) can make the starter weak.

 

By doing this feeding every 12 hours will strengthen the cultures in your starter for light and fluffy breads and treats. After the 2 days, you can go back to feeding it like normal. Be sure to use the 2:1 ratio feeding from here on out.

 

 

Sourdough Baking Disclaimer – I feed my sourdough starter a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water, this creates a 50% hydrated starter. If you feed your starter differently, results may vary.

 

Did you make this recipe? – If so, I’d be so grateful if you left a comment on the blog post!

 

A quick note: My recipes are created, tested, and loved in our home – never made with AI.