Did you go to college where they had Gumby's too?? We had one at Penn State and boy, sometimes - it was the best way to end our night. If I got you craving these delish Pokey's, I have a recipe for you right here!! But unfortunately, I can't recreate their blue and white labelled, beautiful buttermilk ranch dressing. Nonetheless, me and my friends were having mini-reunion and I thought Pokey Sticks had to be a part of the reunion for sure. So here it is! Starting with the basic few points here. Have you made Pizza Dough before? Absolutely nothing to be worried about. Let's get you familiar with yeast a bit. Here are a few pointers:Water: Only use Warm Water when trying to activate yeast. Both hot and cold water will kill the yeast. Use Lukewarm Water!Salt vs Sugar: Sugar helps the yeast to activate, to make it frothy and to give a better rise. Whilst, salt is the opposite, it's an anti-agent. Salt should only be incorporated in the dough towards the final stages of it.Proofing: YES IT REQUIRES PATIENCE! You need to find a warm place, a Switched Off oven is the best place to proof your bread. In areas where it's generally cold or during Winters, it will take longer to proof say about a little bit more than an hour. But during Warm Climate or/and Humid Weather, it will take relatively shorter, close to around 40 minutes.What not to do with a Pizza Dough?Don't use a rolling pin. Are you like yo what??? Using a Rolling Pin definitely deflates your proof and will lead to stillness. Looking for something softer and fluffier? Use the toss and stretch technique here. Using a good amount of your flour on the dough and your hands, toss your dough between hands and gently stretching it bit by bit to get a good shape. Ideally 12-14" would work for this dough. If you are having a lot of troubles, use a rolling pin, but pat it with flour generously, prior. The Sauce You literally don't need anything for the sauce, just some garlic, a good unhealthy amount of butter and some parsley, with some seasonings of course. That's it! No onions, no tomatoes - easy, simple and fat loaded alright! Now that I have dropped hints in the form of bombs that it can get really greasy, here's how you can make the recipe at home.
Equipment
- oven
- Gas/Induction Stove
- 12-16 inch Skillet Pan
Ingredients
To make the Dough
- 250 g All Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Milk Powder
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 5 g / 1 tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 tbsp Caster Sugar
- 30 g /1.5 tbsp Unsalted Butter (if using salted, don't add extra salt)
- 150 ml Lukewarm Water (not an exact measurement, please see in accordance to your dough if more/less water is needed)
To make the Base Sauce
- 3 tbsp. / 60g Unsalted Butter (if using salted, don't add extra salt)
- 6 cloves Garlic (medium sized, finely chopped)
- Few sprigs of Parsley
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Oregano
To make the Pizza
- Dough
- Base Sauce
- 200 g Shredded Cheese (maybe more, upto you)
- Parmesan Cheese to taste
Instructions
To make the Dough
- Take a bowl, mix together - yeast, sugar and some of the water. Whisk together and let it rest to froth. It will take about 3-5 minutes to froth well. You’ll see bubbles appearing.
- Take a stand mixer or just a clean surface. Add your flour, oregano, red chili flakes and garlic powder, mix together. If you’re using a plain surface, make a well between the dry ingredients to add the Yeast Mixture.
- Add in your Yeast mixture and start kneading. Keep adding water until you think its just starting to come together.
- Next, add Butter (either soft or melted) and your salt. Knead well (really stretch the dough at this point) and roll it into a tight ball. Keep the dough ball, cling wrapped in an oiled big bowl, giving it time and space to rise. You can make the sauce now.
- Once risen, after 45 minutes, flatten the dough using toss & stretch technique as mentioned above. Avoid using a rolling pin as much as you can. Using a good amount of your flour on the dough and your hands, toss your dough between hands and gently stretching it bit by bit to get a good shape. Ideally 12-14" would work for this dough.
To make the Sauce
- Take a small pan, add butter here. Keep it in a low to medium heat setting there. After the butter has somewhat melted, add the garlic and mix well.
- Add shredded fresh parsley, oregano and salt, mix well and keep it ready.
To Assemble the Pizza
- We'll be assembling the pizza on a skillet so as the base to cook before send in to bake to fully cook the pizza. This is done, to cook the pizza evenly from all aspects, as mostly the base remains slightly under-cooked.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and keep a cooling rack in. If you have the dotted Pizza Round Tray, keep it handy. Else, plan to keep your Skillet in- the half opened oven. If you aren't too comfortable with that, find a tray to keep the quarter done pizza in.
- Once flat, find a pan (skillet, resembling the size of your flattened dough). Transfer the rolled dough on it and stretch it till the edges. The center should be much thinner the edge crusts. If your sauce and cheese is ready put the skillet on high heat.
- Your base is cooking good at this point, add the butter garlic mixture generously and spread it all around including the edges. Next, add cheese in, generously as well.
- Transfer the quarter done pizza to any tray or use the skillet and keep it in the oven, however you want to. The dough as cooked will be easier to handle it.
- Bake it till done and golden-brown in color. Once properly cooked, sprinkle in some parsley and parmesan cheese. Cut it in form of thin pokey sticks and breadsticks, as in the picture above and enjoy with some dips (RANCH ALERT)!!!
Closing Note
There you have it my greasy food loving fellow friends. It doesn't speak more college to me than these Pokey Sticks.
If you too, recreated your College Memories with these cheesy breadsticks, do share and tag me on Instagram @boy.eatsworld. You can drop your review below as well, or if you're looking to just connect! Cheers.
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