Pillow Soft Bread Sticks 2 Ways

There are blogs I often read or glance at that have only recipes and no story attached to the recipe or they do not have the introductory few sentences that oftentimes give you an insight into what is going to be prepared - which makes me want to come back again and again to see what other tricks and tips has the host to offer.
Now the stories - I do not really care for all that much, but the few little words that sometimes explain the history or origin or how a certain dish has been achieved or built or assembled etc....those I do like to read.
Oh - and some blogs have HUGE stories that make me skip them only to go to recipes....which usually happens with blogs I am not familiar with. Anyhow, everybody blogs because they want to and I think that no one should ever tailor their style just to please someone in particular.
Which brings me to this dish I am writing about today: these bread sticks have garlic infused into the oil that goes in the filling and which really is the trick to achieving the softness and puffiness that you get to bite into at the end. So you will bite into a garlic tasting bread stick without it actually having any garlic in it.
It may be a messy work to get them twisted nicely and transferred into the pan, but it is SO worth it !
I got inspired by Laura Adamache who made something similar and I thank her for posting the recipe so I could work with it to make it suit my taste.
Now let's get to work !
Oh, I have 2 versions of these twists as follows: olive garlic and sausage cheese.

Ingredients for the olive garlic sticks:
The dough:
300 gr flour
5 gr instant yeast
25 ml oil or 2 TBSP
175 ml milk or water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper (white if possible)
1 teaspoon sugar

The filling:
200 gr olives, chopped
1 garlic clove
50 ml oil

Directions:
Dissolve the yeast in the milk or water and add the sugar, then mix with the oil and add to the combined dry ingredients (flour, salt, pepper) and knead by hand 5 to 10 minutes.
If you use the bread machine for that, you may end up having to add more flour.
Let the dough rise loosely covered with a cloth in a warm place for 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a small skillet, drop in the crushed garlic clove, cook for 2 minutes on medium heat, then discard the garlic, add the chopped olives and let cool down.


On a very lightly floured work surface roll the dough into a rectangle at 1/4 inch thickness.
It may roughly be 17 by 12 inch like mine was.


Spread the olives and the oil from the skillet on half of the rectangle and cover with the remaining half, then press down to seal as much as possible.

(If you count and you notice I only have 12, then you need to know that I took the picture after I transferred 2 twists to the baking sheet.)
Using a pastry cutter or a knife, cut equal strips, roughly 1 inch wide (I got 14 strips), twist them gently and place on a baking sheet.


It may get messy and oily at this point by all the oil will be eventually absorbed by the dough.
Do let them rise in the baking sheet for 10 to 20 minutes. Just because.
Bake in a preheated 425 F oven for 10-15 minutes until they look golden and delicious.


Ingredients for the sausage cheese twists:
The dough which is spicy:
300 gr flour
5 gr instant yeast
25 ml oil or 2 TBSP
175 ml milk or water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (white if possible)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika powder

The filling:
3 cheese sticks, cubed really tiny
some smoked sausage, cubed really tiny
3 TBSP oil


Directions:
Prepare the dough in the same way, letting it rise for 1 hour then rolling it out to a rectangle.


Brush the oil evenly on half of the dough, then add the cheese and sausage, cover with the rest of the dough and press with the tips of your fingers to seal.


The dough will look like you have pressed dimples into it.
Cut strips and place on a greased baking sheet, then bake at the same temperature for the same amount of time.


The cheese may ooze out and it may look like it is burning, but it's fine.


They keep well in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave for 10 seconds.
They are very tasty and go well with any savory meal.