Great Garlic Bread
Great Garlic Bread
Equipment
- Knife (preferably a bread knife)
- Cutting Board
- Measuring Equipment
- Bowl
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (45 grams)
- 3 Cloves Garlic (crushed or minced)
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 2 Teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Teaspoons Parmesan Cheese
- 2 Teaspoons Sesame Seeds (optional)
- 1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- Fresh Basil (optional)
Instructions
- In a bowl, add all your ingredients.
- Let it sit at room temperature for about twenty minutes or until the butter becomes soft.
- Once it has warmed up to room temperature, blend the spices and butter together with a spoon. It should all mix together easily and smoothly.
- Cut a loaf of bread lengthwise, exposing the inter part.
- Spread the garlic butter as desired.
- Bake at 180c (350f) for 10 minutes.
- Rotate the bread on the baking sheet and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Let it cool for 5 minutes before cutting and eating.
Notes
Garlic Bread: Short Cuts Might Kill you
I really don’t want to make my own garlic bread. For starters, most recipes for the garlic spread have a 24-hour resting time, in order for the flavors to properly blend together. This means you really have to plan ahead. (Thankfully, my recipe doesn’t need any resting time).
For that reason, I’d rather just pop out to the local bakery and buy the already finished product there. Life, however, sometimes forces your hand. The inconvenient truth is that the local bakery doesn’t have your best interests at heart. At least here in Japan they don’t.
When I decided to start living much healthier a few years back, I began to inquire with the bakeries I frequented how they were creating their garlic bread. To my chagrin, I learned that most every bakery was using margarine to create their garlic spread.
It is true that there are (some) modern margarines that don’t have trans fats, but I still find the process unnatural. In general, laboratory food isn’t processed well by the human body. As well, you really have no idea what the bakery is choosing.
If margarine is bad, why do bakeries use it?
Mostly it’s due to cost, time, and supply. Margarine, simply put, is far cheaper than butter. If you’re running a business, you are always looking at your bottom line. It’s just fact of how life works.
Time is money as well. Margarine, since it’s made of oil, is very malleable right out of the refrigerator. This is a huge bonus when you are baking a lot and don’t have time to wait for something to warm up to room temperature.
Lastly, there can be supply issues, especially in Japan where the government continuously bungles up supply. When butter is in short supply, the price goes up and limits are enforced. If your business depends on bread, cakes, etc, this could be seriously detrimental to your business.
For all these reasons we circle back to why I have decided to make my own garlic bread.
Making Adjustments For Better Garlic Bread
This is one of those recipes that might require some adjustments. If you don’t have unsalted butter on hand, you can use the salted variety. However, you should scale back on the garlic salt by about 20%.
If you don’t have garlic salt, you could use salt. However you would need garlic powder so you could get enough garlic flavor on your bread. Sadly, the freshly crushed garlic doesn’t have enough time to impart its flavor to the butter. If you’re going to go that route, you’ll need a full 24 hours to bring out the proper flavor.
Crush Your Garlic! Show No Mercy!
Speaking of the fresh garlic, this is one of those times where I highly recommend crushing the garlic into a fine paste. It makes a huge difference and spreads so much easier. If you don‘t have a garlic crusher, I would highly recommend getting a Kuhn Rikon Epicurean. It is like the Rolls Royce of garlic presses. I’ve had mine for about 6 years and I do really love it.
*The price listed for the Japanese Amazon is highway robbery. You’ll get a much better deal if you just order from the US link paying the $10 shipping cost.
You will also note some optional ingredients. I love sesame seeds on breads. Sadly, bakeries really don’t use them when baking bread. I can’t even begin to understand why they don’t. I guess that’s beside the point. The fact is, they don’t. So, I add them here.
Red pepper flakes are not going to be to everyone’s taste. They add a little pop. If you don’t like anything spicy, just omit them.
Finally, if I have some fresh sweet basil on hand I’ll mince up half a dozen leaves and mix them in. It adds some nice character to the finished product. It’s all nice to see the basil on the bread. It’s good visual flair.
Got the no oven blues?
Lastly, if you don’t have an oven, like many of you in Japan, than you can throw your bread into a frying pan.
- Put some butter in the pan, so it doesn’t burn and stick. I would recommend toasting the center side first to give it a nice browning.
- When toasted, flip it over and start toasting the bottom side.
- Add the garlic butter spread as the bottom is browning.
- Be careful not to burn either side. I would use a medium/low heat and it allow 10 minutes for each side.
The finished product won’t be quite the same, but it will be close enough.
Great garlic bread goes well with many meals, but works especially well with ITALIAN FOOD.
Great garlic bread needs some classic Italian music.