Whisk the warm water, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes, or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and, in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough can repeatedly get stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand is the better choice.

Add the olive oil (or butter), salt, garlic powder, and about half of the bread flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes, or until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be very soft, but should not be overly sticky. If it seems too sticky and clings to the sides of the bowl instead of forming a rough mass around the dough hook, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl but is still moist and tacky. If it feels dry and crumbly, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry/tough dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.

Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Use the step-by-step photos in the blog post as your guide for this step. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Using floured hands on a lightly floured work surface, shape the dough into a 16-inch (41cm) log. Using a very sharp knife, pizza cutter, or bench scraper, slice the log into 16 1-inch sections. Roll each piece of dough into an 8-inch rope. Tie each rope into a knot. You can tuck the 2 ends of the knots underneath or leave them out. Arrange the knots on the prepared baking sheets.

Lightly cover the shaped knots and let them rest for 30–45 minutes. They will slightly puff up during this time, producing softer rolls.

Towards the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°).

Stir the melted butter, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt together. Brush on the knots. Reserve some of the topping for when the knots come out of the oven.

Bake for about 20–23 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and brush the warm knots with remaining garlic butter. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and/or parsley, if using.

Serve warm, plain or with marinara sauce for dipping.

Cover and store leftover knots at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat as desired.