Best recipe for garlic bread

[Stanley Stephan]

A friend who is allergic to dairy made garlic bread with olive oil instead of butter. It was mind blowing excellent. Really simple ... bread, about 1 cup of great olive oil, tons of chopped garlic, a little salt, throw in the oven.

It has been quite a while since I've had garlic bread due to health concerns about too much butter. It never occurred to me to try oil oil instead, so I thought I would pass along the tip.

Another tip was to reheat the bread, wrap a piece in a moistened paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds. Almost oven fresh.

I also thought I would ask what your secret was for making amazing garlic bread. Looking on the web I found recipes that include such items as provolone, spinach,sun dried tomatoes, anchovies, parmesian, etc, etc, etc (of course not all the ingrediants on one loaf).

So what is your perfect garlic bread?

[squid-kun]

I usually don't chop the garlic but instead peel and halve a few cloves. Slice and toast the bread, not long enough to brown but enough to stiffen it a little, then rub it with the garlic. Drizzle on some good olive oil, add a dash of salt and a bit of chopped parsley, maybe one other herb. Then into the oven for a while. Not too long; a hint of raw garlic presence is not a bad thing. I've added grated Parmesan, too, but usually don't.

[scottso]

That's how I make it ...Exactamente... Bravo!

[Bruce H.]

I make a concoction that's about half way to being pesto. Always olive oil and garlic plus any of onion, tomato, sun dried tomato, roasted red peppers, dill pickles, pickled hot peppers, giardiniera, olives, basil, sunflower seeds, sardines, etc. All minced as fine as I have patience for with a knife on a cutting board. Sometimes I add black pepper, very rarely salt.

[Stanley Stephan]

Dill Pickles?

I'll bet there was a story behind that. How wasted were you when you added dill pickles?

[Bruce H.]

You think that sounds like BFM, eh?

No, no wastage. I was standing in front of the refrigerator, pulling out the olives in brine and the three different kinds of peppers in brine and it just seemed like the pickles would fit right in with all that other brined stuff.

[ironmom]

I made an interesting garlic bread a while back by defrosting a loaf of frozen bread dough and slicing the cold (and unraised) dough into 8-12 slices. I brushed between the slices a mixture of crushed garlic (crushed in a mortar and pestle) and olive oil, reassembled it in a loaf pan, and then let it rise. When it baked and was brought to the table, the diners were able to peel apart the slices. It was good.

[chip chip]

From Mom:

French bread
1 stick unsalted butter
Garlic powder to taste - maybe about 1/8 cup?

Preheat oven to 325. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add garlic powder to taste. Whisk together over low heat. Cut bread into two-inch slices. Dip slices into mixture on both sides. Place on foil-lined cookie sheet vertically NOT facing down. Bake until golden brown - about 7-10 minutes.

My in-law, who doesn't compliment anyone's cooking and doesn't even like garlic bread, praised this recipe recently - a big coup!

[Joe H.]

Along with risotto garlic bread is an obsession of mine. I made it a different way an average of once a month for 30 years before settling on this as the best I have ever had, anywhere.

Loaf of GOOD, crusty Italian bread cut in 3/4 to one inch thick slices.
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened at room temperature for two hours.
1 bulb of garlic, minced (that's a LOT of cloves)
Reggiano Parmesano
Caraway seed
Fresh basil, chopped
Hot pepper flakes

Slice the bread one inch thick. Thoroughly mix fresh minced garlic with softened butter (room temperature for two hours). DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT GARLIC POWDER, SALT, ETC. IS AS GOOD. THEY ARE NOT! Let me repeat this: nothing takes the plac of FRESH GARLIC. NOTHING. YOU WANT TO USE ONLY FRESH MINCED GARLIC that is smashed/mixed with the softened butter.
Use about two tablespoons of the butter/minced garlic mixture per slice. This means that you are going to have a 1/8 inch thick coating over the entire slice of bread.
Chop fresh basil and spread over slices.
Grate fresh Reggiano over slices to completely coat.
Sprinkle 1/8 tsp. of Caraway seeds over each slice.
Shake a few hot pepper flakes on top of all this.
Bake at 350 degrees for about five minutes or until kitchen smells really, really good.
Eat this HOT out of the oven. Do NOT let this sit around for five or ten minutes before serving it. EAT IT as soon as it comes out.
There is NO recipe you will ever find that makes garlic bread as good as this. None.
Egotistical, yes. Thirty years of trying resulted in the above.

[Joe H.]

Clarification: garlic bulbs come in different sizes. The above would be for a small to medium size bulb that is added to the stick and a half, perhaps two of butter. You really need to do this to taste but you want to taste the garlic but it should not overwhelm the final mixture. You want a lot but not so much that someone will die from your breath.

[Stanley Stephan]

Well, I'm going to have to try this. Although the dill pickle reciple has me intriqued.

Have you tried making garlic bread with olive oil rather than butter Joe? WHy do you prefer butter? I was really surprised how wonderful the olive oil versions was.

Like the odd pickle recipe, how did you come up with caraway seeds?

[Joe H.]

Maria's 300, a restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy that has long since gone out of business and advertised Al Capone as a regular customer when he was "in town" in the '20's, used caraway seeds and hot pepper flakes on their garlic bread. (This was the "Rao's of Baltimore.") They were their "secret ingredient."

[Janet A. Zimmerman]

Two TABLESPOONS of butter per slice of bread? Was that a mistake in typing, or do you really like that much? That doesn't even sound appealing to me, and I like butter.

[Joe H.]

It may be more like one and a half. You want a coating approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick all over the bread. I'm not talking about French bread. I'm using Italian which is a fairly fat loaf.
Before you pass judgment make the bread. It is not excessive but appropriate. And don't cut corners.

[Janet A. Zimmerman]

Nope, don't think I will. But thanks for the clarification.

[Rubee]

Sounds excellent Joe H - and - to digress - add me to the list of fans of your risotto! It WAS the ABSOLUTE BEST. I made it for just four people, so there is a lot left-over. I'd love to use it as an appetizer for New Year's Eve. Is that possible? Specifically, I was thinking of mini-risotto cakes, maybe with a garnish of duck confit? Thanks for any advice.

[Joe H.]

Honestly, at four in the morning, cold out of the refrigerator it is awesome. It doesn't microwave or heat in a double boiler very well. But in my house for several days every time that I open the frig I just scoop off a spoonful or two and eat it cold. Like butter which is close to its cold texture. I've never tried it any other way.
Thanks for the nice words and before you laugh at the amount of butter I use on each slice (as another person did) try making it. Immodestly I would put my garlic bread against ANY on the face of this earth.
Over the years I have made a major caloric investment to realize this level of arrogance!
Seriously, thanks again for the nice words.
There are several things that I make when I am really trying my best to impress someone with my ability to cook. Risotto is one. Garlic bread is another since I serve it with bouillibasse which I make from scratch with a fish fumet which chases my wife out of the house when she sees the heads and frames of fish go into the stockpot! I also have a salad of mesclun, goat cheese, toasted pine nuts and ripe tomatoes with a sundried tomato balsamic viniagrette made with 12 year old Balsamic and "vintage" olive oil. But somewhere along the line I substituted the garlic bread for rouille because I thought it just tasted better. Anyway, it's in league with the risotto although they don't go together.

[bobh]

I knew if I kept following this line my suspicion would be born out. In the 50's, in South Phila, the only pizza we could buy was with tomatoes, or tom/cheese,and maybe peperoni. As time went on I noted people began adding meats, veggies, pineapple, or anything else you might think of, and somethings just to outdo their friends. I callled it the kitchen-sink concept. Please make your garlic bread anyway you like, but for me, I keep it simple. A good italian loaf of bread, real garlic, and olive oil is the easiest and probably the best.

[Joe H.]

This is totally off topic but several years ago I found a bakery in South Philly (generally near 9th and Passyunk, a couple of blocks from Pat's and Geno's) that had a coal fired oven. I am not talking about Tacconelli's. Rather this was just a "bread oven" which probably had been around since the '20's. I bought a loaf of crusty bread from it that was incredible.
For all of the discussion about coal oven pizza on here I have never seen any mention of coal oven bread whose oven is very similar to the one that Pepe's uses in New Haven. Are you familiar with the bread bakery I am talking about? Does/did it have much of a reputation? I believe this is only one of two (the other is in Coney Island down the street from Totonno's) that are left operating.

[bobh]

Tacconelli is not in S. phila. They are closer to NE phila. The "bread" oven is known here as brick ovens, and were built by the immigrate italians which were more like the ovens in Italy. They produce superior bread, pizza, etc. There are several still operating:
Sarcones 758 S. 9th Street
Caccia Ritner Street around 16th or 17th St.
Lanci Jackson Street around 16th or 17th St
DiNapoli don't know the address at hand

I am not familiar with the others you mentioned, and of the ones I listed, many of my relatives prefer Sarcones. By the way, I hope you did not fall for the hype and have a steak sandwich from pat's or geno's. There are a number of places better than those, but they get all the print. I hope this helps you.

[Joe H.]

I am sorry that I was not more specific. I meant coal burning ovens as opposed to wood burning ovens, both of which are brick ovens. Tacconelli's is a coal burning brick oven and, along with the "bread oven" near 9th and Passyunk the only ones I know of in Philly. (Could this be Sarcone's?) I also wonder if any of the others have coal burning in them as opposed to wood? It would be interesting if Sarcone's was the only coal oven which, coincidentally, is the one your relatives prefer. (I believe coal ovens allow the pizza crust of any.)
Both Pat's and Geno's (and Jim's) are great late at night but I prefer the White House in Atlantic City. Thanks, anyway.

[Celeste]

Okay, now I have to know - what is your bouillabaise recipe? I've been sifting through several and have never made it. I'm sure yours is good!

I'm still saving the risotto recipe for a special occasion. :-)

[Joe H.]

Thanks for the post, Celeste. I'll post it on Wednesday. I've put my neck on the line about my cooking and I have to start now-we have about 40 people coming for New Year's and some of them post regularly on here. If you never hear another word from me, well...

[Celeste]

Ok, I'm still patiently waiting for that bouillabaise recipe! :-)
hee hee.

-celeste

[givemecarbs]

Thanks Joe H. Not sure you still post or read here, but thanks for the garlic bread recipe, it is righteous!

[galleygirl]

I am loathe to chime in here, now that Joe H. has posted his recipe, (vbg)..But I had amazing garlic bread at a barbecue this Labor Day..The chef, er, drill sargeant, had roasted about 15 bulbs of garlic, (we had a crowd), squeezed them out, and directed his scullery help to mix it with melted butter, spread it on sliced French bread, and stick it in the oven. Finesse all the propirtions for yourself, but roasted garlic and butter was mindblowing; I ate it all weekend.

[Joe H.]

Fresh garlic and real butter. The Foundation along with good bread. Too many people cut corners with powder, etc. On Tuesday I'm going to be cooking for New Year's. One of the things I'll make is garlic bread. I've never added drizzeled olive oil to my recipe before but this time I'll try it on a slice or two. Who knows?

[Tom Meg]

Too much emphasis here on toppings. For me, it's about the bread. I can't stand that lame bloated tasteless fluffy soft cake-like stuff cunningly elongated so that it resembles real bread. That bread deserves margarine and garlic powder.

What about a slice of chewy crusty country bread, grilled, rubbed lightly with half a garlic clove, drizzled with olive oil, and maybe some coarse salt? Bruschetta.

[Bruce]

Do what my sister-in-law did: Throw 8 or 9 large loaves of good bread, heavily dressed with margarine and some garlic-like substance, directly on the too-hot Weber, cover a little while, then inspect the results: In this instance, it was a roaring, sputtering conflagration of quickly incinerating bread and runny, separating margarine, the cheap oil of which took on diesel-like qualities in the context of the extreme heat. Flames were shooting up about 4 or 5 feet, and this prompted me to go a little "tribal"--I began dancing around the fire, gesticulating with my drink, and screaming, so as to entice the attention of the many other family members in attendance, that "it's AN INFERNO!" (This phrase repeated many times.) This situation was eventually brought under control without the assistance of the fire department.

It's funny, but we don't get invited to many social events there anymore, and we did not even get a holiday greeting this year.

[ironmom]

Sounds like the perfect use for margarine: a proxy for butter when you make a burnt offering of "garlic bread" to the gods.

[C. Fox]

Sure, if you want to insult the gods.

[Donna - MI]

Bruce, that was very funny! Gave me good post-holiday laugh! I can just picture this. Thanks, D.

[Chino Wayne]

OK, here is my version:

1 Sourdough flute
1-1/2 to 2 sticks of unsalted butter (depends on how big the loaf is)
Garlic (to taste)
Grated Romano cheese

Slice the loaf of bread on the horizontal, ending up with a long bottom half and a long top half. Melt the butter over a low flame and thrown in a bunch (the more the better) of chopped fresh garlic. Let the butter just begin to bubble, but not burn, so it becomes infused with the garlic.

Slice the long halves of the bread loaf almost through, in individual sized portions, that will make the pieces easy to pull apart later.

With a pastry brush, slather on the warm garlic butter on all top surfaces of the bread, making sure that the garlic is well distributed on the bread and not left in the sautee pan. After the butter, liberally sprinkle the romano cheese so that it completely covers the bread.

Place the bread on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet under the broiler for about 4 or 5 minutes (depends on your individual oven, keep an eye on the bread).

When the cheese has melted and turned brown and bubbly the bread is ready, your kitchen will smell wonderful, and if there are any humans within sniffing distance, the bread will immediately disappear.