A Basket Full of 'Snakes'

Gathering ideas from around the web, I decided to make bread sticks in a curved shape for an Amphibian and Reptile party for my son's eleventh birthday. But recently I found a great web site with easy and fun recipes. This recipe for bread sticks not only provided a great dough, it also inspired me to make the shape of the bread sticks more whimsical. I made coiled snakes and filled up a basket with them.






I rolled the dough out, cut it into strips, then rolled the strips into thin snake like pieces.



Finally, I coiled them around in an upward spiral to represent a sleeping snake.



Brushed with butter and sprinkled with garlic seasoning, these pleased every explorer at the party.






Coiled Snake Bread Sticks
doubled recipe from Our Best Bites
3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 c flour
4 tablespoons butter
garlic seasoning

Combine water, sugar and yeast in large mixing bowl. Whisk together and let sit for 10 minutes.  Add salt; mix. Add 3 cups of flour and mix well using dough hook of mixer {or by hand}. Continue to add flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of bowl and is not too sticky.  Cover the inside of an extra large bowl with oil or butter. Place dough in bowl. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Cover a cookie sheet with foil. Divide dough in half and roll each into a rectangle about 12"x6". Cut into strips, 12 pieces for each half, for a total of 24 strips.  Roll strips between hands to make long ropes. Coil into a round shape, stacking the end of the rope on the bottom coiled layer.

Bake in preheated 425F oven for 10 minutes. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic seasoning.