Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks & Fail-proof pizza dough (just like in restaurants-seriously!)

When i came across this recipe from Lauren’s Latest for Fail-proof pizza dough I had to try it. Guess what-it actually worked! Even though it said to use Bread Flour and I only had All-Purpose Flour it turned out really really good. I got the original recipe from Laurens Latest , a food blog i’m completely in love with, and made a few small adjustments. Here is a link to the original recipe because it was helpful.

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

Makes 2, 12 inch pizzas

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups all purpose flour {give or take 1/2 cup…depending on the heat & humidity, recipe calls for Bread Flour, but I only had all purpose but it worked out great}

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water, stir with wooden spoon. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix. Start adding remaining flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn’t stick to your hands. I did this 1/4 cup by 1/4 cup.

Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on speed 2 (tops for a dough hook attachment) and knead for 6 minutes. Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn’t dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. That’s it! Now you can make what you want with the pizza dough. I divided it into 2, and put 1 in the freezer, and then Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks with the other (recipe below pictures and also from Lauren’s Latest).

Pizza dough ingredients

Pizza dough after it’s been kneaded and the bowl is oiled before sitting for 1-2 hrs

Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
yield: 1- 12 inch pie

Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Fail-Proof Pizza Dough
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese {use the real stuff!}
1/4 pound grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside.
Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone. I ended up having a hard time transferring from the parchment paper onto the stone. Make sure you have a large spatula ready at time of transfer to help nudge it onto the stone}
Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, if desired. {That step is totally optional-I sprinkled it with salt, pepper and garlic salt, and it ended up being a little to salty, but still absolutely good}. This literally tasted like it was from a restaurant. It would perfect for an appetizer or main meal. Serve with marinara sauce if desired.

 Cheesy garlic bread sticks before oven

 Cheesy garlic bread sliced and ready to eat!