How to Make Great Garlic Bread
In the world of ingredients and flavors, garlic can be a real bully, especially in dishes where garlic is meant to be the star of the dish, like garlic bread. However, the garlic bread recipe I’m about to share eliminates all of that.
This method for garlic bread not only mellows out garlic’s flavor but does so in a way that makes garlic the highlight of the dish without knocking you in the face with its pungency.
There are many ways to make garlic bread, but the method I am about to share is both simple and delicious, I will be rubbing my bread with a garlic-butter mixture before baking it, doing so will not only toast the bread to make it crunchy and delightful but will also mellow out that strong garlic flavor and make it much more pleasant to eat.
However, given that garlic is in the name, I did want this garlic bread to be full of the wonderful flavors that garlic has to offer. To do this, I will be using a combination of fresh garlic and garlic powder.
Garlic powder might seem like one of those fads that most chefs talk down on, but the truth is that it’s used in restaurants all over the US and has a different garlic flavor than fresh garlic, so you’ll get a variety of flavors that will be very enjoyable.
Also, to create this garlic butter, I will be doing something rather interesting; I will be melting some butter and adding some cold butter to that.
I could mix the garlic with some softened butter, but how many times have we tried to make a flavored butter but found the butter to be somewhat firm and hard to mash?
With my method, the hot melted butter will soften and melt the cold butter into a spreadable consistency while the cold butter cools down the melted butter and keeps it from destroying the natural flavors of the garlic.
I’ve made garlic bread in many ways, and this way might be my favorite.
As for bread, I’ll be using a rustic, simple ciabatta loaf as I like its soft, holed texture and the crisp crust that gets toasty and warm in the oven.
However, any bread loaf that you enjoy will work for this.
Anyway, now that those basics are covered, let’s get to the recipe!
Great Garlic Bread
Serves 6-8
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided
8 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 loaf of ciabatta bread, sliced in half horizontally
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C)
Place half of the butter into a heatproof bowl and microwave for 30-45 seconds, or until melted.
Thinly slice the remaining butter, then add to the hot melted butter and gently stir until fully melted and combined.
Add the garlic, garlic powder and salt, then stir until combined.
Spread the garlic-butter mixture onto the cut side of the bread and place onto a sheet pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the bread start looking brown.
Switch on the broiler, then broil until golden in parts.
Allow the bread to cool for at least 2 minutes, then slice and serve!
