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Halloween Witch Finger Breadsticks Recipe
Ash Tyrrell

Halloween Witch Finger Breadsticks Recipe

I make these witch finger breadsticks every single Halloween now, and I honestly look forward to it more than the candy. The first time I pulled a tray of these gnarly little fingers out of the oven, my kids screamed with laughter instead of fear, which is exactly the reaction I was going for.
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Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cups warm water — warm but not hot since water that's too hot will kill the yeast before it even gets going
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour — measure it loosely into the cup instead of packing it down or your dough turns out too dense
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast — check the expiration date first since old yeast simply won't make the dough rise
  • ½ teaspoon salt — balances the sweetness from the sugar and gives the bread better flavor overall
  • 2 tablespoons sugar — helps feed the yeast so your dough rises faster and puffs up nicely
  • ¼ cup melted butter — for rolling the shaped breadsticks in before baking don't skip this step
  • 24 whole almonds — these become the fingernails and whole almonds tend to stay attached better than sliced ones
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt — sprinkled on right before baking for that classic garlic bread flavor

Method
 

  1. Pour your warm water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let it sit undisturbed for a few minutes until it turns foamy, which tells you the yeast is alive and ready to work. If nothing happens after five minutes, your yeast is likely dead and you'll need a fresh packet.
  2. Stir in the sugar and salt, then gradually add the flour while mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough for about four minutes, either by hand or with a stand mixer, until it turns smooth and slightly elastic to the touch.
  3. Cover your bowl with a clean towel and set it somewhere warm for about ten minutes. You're not looking for a huge doubling here, just enough puff to make the dough easier to roll and shape into fingers.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle roughly the size of your baking sheet. Use a pizza cutter to slice it into strips about one inch wide, then roll each strip into a slightly tapered finger shape.
  5. Pour the melted butter onto your baking sheet and roll each finger through it before arranging them with space in between. Press one almond onto the end of each finger, pushing gently so it holds in place as the dough puffs up.
  6. Sprinkle the fingers with garlic salt, or any of your favorite seasonings, and let them rest on the pan for another 15 minutes before baking. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes, or until the edges just turn a light golden brown.

Notes

  • I always test my yeast first by letting it foam, since skipping this step has cost me a completely flat batch before.
  • I use whole almonds instead of slivered ones now, because I found myself picking through an entire bag just to find unbroken slices.
  • I press the almonds in firmly before the second rise, which lets the dough puff up and hold the nail in place naturally.
  • I like using a paring knife to score little knuckle lines into each finger right before baking, since it makes them look far more realistic.
  • I never let my dough rise too long, since an over-proofed dough makes the fingers puffy instead of gnarly and knuckled.