Introduction: Make Words Out of Bread

About: I grew up in the high desert east of Los Angeles. I have been a resident artist at ArtSpan as part of their Art For City Youth program since 2013. I currently work as a Teaching Assistant at San Francisco Art …

Bread is a delicious part of any meal. Express yourself through baking by taking normal breadsticks and turning them into bread words (and maybe even sentences)!

Step 1: Ingredients

I used this lovely bread stick recipe from Blissful Roots. I halved the recipe for this example since I was making only one word. If you have more to say then by all means use the entire recipe. Since bread is a simple food most of these ingredients will already be in your kitchen! For this Instructable my recipe was as follows:

3/4 cup warm water

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 tbsp yeast (I used active dry yeast)

1 3/4 cup flour

1/4 salt

You will also need:

Cookie sheet

Basting brush

The water is best warm but not scalding hot. You should be able to comfortably put your finger in the water.

I also used active dry yeast for this recipe but I think that rapid rise yeast would also work, so go with the one you have on hand!

Step 2: Set Your Oven to 350 Degrees

Step 3: Proof the Yeast

Mix the yeast and warm water in a bowl. Dissolve the yeast by stirring it in the water. Then, stir the sugar into the yeast/water mixture.

Step 4: Mix Wet Ingredients With Dry Ingredients

Mix the salt and flour in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and start to incorporate using your hands. Work all of the flour into the dough. If the dough is too dry to further incorporate the flour, add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough becomes more workable. If your dough is too sticky to properly knead, add flour one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency. The dough will be slightly sticky but should not be so sticky that you can't work with it.

Step 5: Knead for 3 Minutes

Knead your dough for about 3 minutes. This is a relatively short kneading time so its easy on you while still making great bread!

Step 6: Let Rise for 10 Minutes

Gather your dough into a ball and allow it to sit for ten minutes on your counter top. Your dough will begin to rise.

Step 7: Roll Out Your Dough

Lightly flour your work surface and start rolling out the dough with a rolling pin. The dough should be about 1/4 of an inch thick. Form the dough into a rough rectangular shape.

Step 8: Cut Your Bread Sticks

Using any straight edge tool (pizza cutter, knife) cut your strips about 1 inch thick across. If you couldn't get straight enough edges in the previous step then you can cut off the uneven edges.

Step 9: Prepare!

Grease your cookie sheet with butter and melt your 1/2 cup of butter in a small pan being careful not to burn it.

Step 10: Form Your Letters

This is the time to really start playing with the dough. I love making my letters in cursive but you can form almost any style of lettering with this bread stick dough. The bread letters will come out close to how you form them but they might expand a bit when baking, so make sure to give a little extra definition to gaps, curves or points in your letters. Feel free to stretch the dough out a bit while forming the letters and tear off the dough when you need to start a new strip. Where you have overlapping strips of bread, add a bit of water in between the strips and it will act as a bread glue making sure the strips stay together.

Step 11: Make the Bread Yummy!

Brush the melted butter on your letters. You can't overdo the butter so put on as much as you like. Then add any toppings that you think will make your statement even more delicious! I used lots of garlic powder and salt on mine but feel free to add cheese, sugar, really anything you like.

Let your bread rise for 15-20 minutes on the cookie sheet before putting in the oven.

Once the rising time is up, bake the bread words for 15-20, until they are a nice golden brown.

Step 12: Enjoy!

Take your bread words out of the oven and transfer to a serving dish. Serve alongside your favorite soup, eat it alone as a meal or enjoy with hummus. Bread is versatile not only as a food but as a form of expression!