Bosco Sticks are a brand of cheese-filled frozen breadsticks which are popular among institutional cafeterias and foodservice organizations. Manufactured by the Bosco Pizza Company, Bosco Sticks are sold via distributors in a frozen state and must be baked prior to consumption. The Bosco Pizza Company recommends that Bosco Sticks be topped with butter and parmesan cheese after baking, although compliance with this recommendation varies from establishment to establishment. Most establishments that sell Bosco Sticks do not in fact use butter, and instead coat the sticks with various oil-based substances, possibly mixed with garlic or herbs. Bosco Sticks are frequently sold with marinara dipping sauce.

What's Inside?

Bosco Sticks are sold with bags into which the sticks are to be placed for retail sale. The retail packaging bags are printed with the slogans "Bosco Sticks" and "what's inside?" Bosco Sticks are filled with: mozzarella cheese, a mixture of pepper jack cheese and jalapeno peppers, or a mixture of pepperoni, spices and cheese. When baked properly, the filling will occupy the interior cavity of the Bosco Stick. However, improper baking technique or weakness in the bread's internal structure can result in the cheese leaking from the bread or the cheese forming a thin layer over the walls of the cavity, leaving the Bosco Stick hollow in the center.

Manufacturing Process

Bosco Stick dough consists of white whole-wheat flour, water, corn oil, sugar, salt, and dough conditioner. The ingredients are mixed in a heavy-duty commercial mixer for 10 minutes and dumped into a large bowl. There the dough is left to rise for 40-45 minutes (about 79 degrees Fahrenheit) before being dumped onto a sheeting line. There the dough is rolled out into a large thin sheet on a series of conveyors. The sheet of dough is cut into sheets of smaller width. Small strings of cheese are laid out onto the sheets of dough by an extrusion machine. The sheets are then curled around the string cheese to form the raw Bosco Stick. The sticks are placed into a pan and then into a proofing chamber that controls temperature and humidity. Here the Bosco Sticks rise for 60 minutes and then are partially baked in an oven at 540 degrees Fahrenheit for almost 3 minutes. The sticks are then frozen, packaged, and shipped to customers across the United States.

==Nutrition Facts==