Whole Wheat Bread Sticks

Source: Peggy Elwood (with some advice from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3+ cups flour (I used half white, half whole-wheat)
3 Tablespoons butter (you can definitely do more, if you wish, but this was plenty to coat all the sticks)
Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, or seasonings of your choice (for topping)

Directions:
Soften yeast in water and sugar.  Add salt.  Add flour and mix.  Knead for 3 minutes, adding flour (but not too much!), if needed, till your dough forms a soft ball.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.  Melt butter and pour on a rimmed jelly roll pan (or just melt the butter directly on the pan in the oven for a few minutes - watch it so it doesn't brown!).  Roll out dough into a rectangle about the size of your cookie sheet.  Using a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle in half long ways ("hotdog style" if you remember that from elementary school).  Then cut each half of dough into one inch strips.  Place each strip of dough on the cookie sheet and flip over to coat both sides with melted butter.  Sprinkle all the bread stick dough with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese (or other seasonings/spices that you come up with).  Let bread raise for about 20-30 minutes.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Notes:
We ate these bread sticks a lot growing up - they're especially good with soup and chili!  And they're really quite quick and easy.  I decided I wanted to try a whole-wheat twist on them, and they turned out fabulous!  It was interesting, too, to see the same basic recipe showing up all over the place - I found this not only from my files from my mom, but also a version from my grandma and my mother-in-law, as well as from Mel of Mel's Kitchen Cafe, who I don't even know!  Must be a good one, eh?  But you don't have to take my word for it.  ;)

Updated 11/26/18 to add: these also freeze great - I just let them cool and then place them in a ziplock baggie in the freezer.  When I want to reheat them, I just spread them on a cookie sheet (as many as I want to eat) and pop them in a cold oven.  They're usually warm and toasty by the time the oven preheats to 375, but if they're not ready then, just leave them a few minutes longer.  ;)