I love garlic bread. I wonder why I don’t make it as often…but I love them. Over the years, garlic bread has somewhat faded into the culinary background as another average side-dish. Eateries are making garlic bread everywhere so you might wonder, why post something that’s so common, so unadventurous, so basic…a child could make it? First of all, have you ever seen a child make garlic bread? No. And secondly, if it’s so easy and common, why are people still buying supermarket garlic butter?
Once I was wheeling my trolley down the cold storage aisle, I would see boxes of these garlic butter and chuckled to myself thinking, ‘Come on, surely no one would spend money on something like that…‘ and just as I was pondering on my own opinions, a lady behind me reached for a tub and exclaimed to her child, ‘We go home and make garlic bread, ya…‘
While I have nothing against pre-made garlic butter, I just think that it’s something so ridiculously easy to do yourself. And you can control what goes in to your garlic butter. Maybe I want to give garlic bread its place to shine again. Let’s face it, they made life and eating a lot better.
Here is a really simple recipe but it’s what I like best in my garlic bread. You can adapt it to your taste and preference or pimped it up even more using roast garlic. But I’m sticking to the basics for this post.
GARLIC BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients;
1 French baguette
Garlic butter;
Salted butter, as much as you want for the amount of bread you’re buttering
Two fat cloves (or more) of fresh garlic, peeled
Fresh parsley, chopped, leave out the stems for other dishes
Black Pepper
Steps;
1. The butter has to be soft but not too runny. Mash the garlic and add it to the butter, I prefer them puree style and not slithers. Mix with the chopped parsley and few grinds of black pepper. Let it sit to marry the flavours together, preferably in the fridge for 10 – 15 mins.
2. Cut your baguette in half, then make multiple slits lengthwise but not all the way through. Butter the bread on all sides with the garlic butter. Be generous.
3. Take some foil and wrap the loaf. This is to ensure that the insides get hot and steamy without burning the outside crust too quickly. Toast in a pre-heated oven for first 20 mins. Keep and eye on it and check it occasionally, you don’t want burnt garlic.
4. Take out the loaf and undo the top part of the foil and let it toast for another 10 mins, till you have a bit of colour. The key is crunchy on the crust but the inside needs to be fluffy and soft, else you can’t bite into them.
5. Eat with any accompaniments; soups, pastas, salads, mains etc.
Note; You can freeze this garlic butter and use it in a variety of dishes. You can even add more herbs and spices to it and they will taste great on meats and poultry.
Enjoy!
Related recipe;
Roast Garlic Butter
