Toggle BTT Touch Bar while Expanded Control Strip is active

I don't like the touch bar. I always manage to hit it while I type and accidentally hit every function on the control strip. I want to clear out the control strip so only esc is visible, but use a keyboard shortcut or touchpad gesture to toggle the BTT touch bar so I can access brightness/media/volume controls when I need them.
Unfortunately, I can only get the custom touch bar to work while my system is set to use "App Controls". I always hit these, so I would prefer to be able to use "Expanded Control Strip" customized to display no icons. When I do this, the toggle command only causes the touch bar to flash black, but the custom touch bar does not appear. The menu bar dropdown says it's active, but no icons are visible or clickable.
Am I missing something? Is there a setting I need to enable for each icon? Thanks!