In a large mixing bowl, add the water, yeast, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Allow mixture to stand for 5 minutes.
Add one cup of flour and mix to combine. Add another cup of flour and mix through. Mix for 1 or 2 minutes. The dough should be the consistency of cake batter.
Add another cup of flour and mix through. Add flour until you can't mix it by hand very well.
Sprinkle some flour on your table and turn the dough onto the table. Knead the dough by hand until it is smooth and elastic, adding flour as needed. This should take 6 to 10 minutes of kneading.
Place the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a towel, and let it rise in a warm place for 15 to 60 minutes (this time varies a lot for me, I just let it rise according to how long it is until dinner time).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide the dough in half. Use one half for a pizza and the other half for breadsticks or use both halves for breadsticks. Roll the dough out on a piece of parchment (about a half inch thick) and then use your pizza cutter to cut the dough into 12 strips (about one and a half inches wide).
Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until the bread sticks are light brown. If the bread sticks stick together a little, just re-cut them after they have baked.
It is important to knead the bread until it's soft and tender. It shouldn't be sticky when you are done kneading it.
You can roll it out and cut it right on a baking mat or on parchment paper OR you can roll and cut the bread sticks out on your counter top and then transfer each one to a baking sheet. Both are great and easy options.
For some extra flavor, brush the tops of the hot breadsticks with butter when they come out of the oven and then sprinkles them with a little Parmesan cheese.
In addition to making breadsticks, you can use this dough to make delicious pizzas.