Garlic Bread

Better than Pizza Hut! For a truly religious Garlic Bread experience, skip the fancy bread and use a basic French stick. And don’t even think about skimping on butter!

You can’t order pizza without a side of garlic bread. It would be like ordering a burger at Maccers with no fries. (Oh the sacrilege, talking about so much fast food in one post! 🙈)

And while some people dive straight for the biggest slice of pizza, I always – ALWAYS – go for the garlic bread first.

Who’s with me here??? 🙋🏻‍♀️

There are tons of different ways to make garlic bread. But for me, the Pizza Hut way will always be the  “best” way: a French stick sliced almost all the way through, then each piece slathered with garlic butter, wrapped in foil and baked until toasty.

Which brings me to the one thing I will never budge on when it comes to Garlic Bread. Use as much or little garlic as you want for your taste, adjust the salt, add whatever herbs you desire.

But for a truly epic, classic Garlic Bread experience, my one rule is this:

NO FANCY BREAD ALLOWED

In my world, classic Garlic Bread should always be made with stock standard supermarket or basic bakery French stick / baguette. The crust isn’t that thick, and it’s usually pretty soft rather than crispy. Once slathered with butter and baked in foil, I find it yields the perfect ratio of crust crunch to soft, warm, garlic butter soaked bread.

On the other hand, a thick crust like you get with fancy artisan baguettes is no good – too much crispy crust compared to soft bread inside. Too hard to swallow!

Basic French stick is perfect. See? 😍

Here in Australia, our French sticks are pretty long – usually around 60 cm / 2 feet long, and the diameter ranges from around 7 – 9 cm / 2.7 – 3.5″. Here’s some size context for you. Though actually, Dozer makes that French stick look darn tiny!!!! 😂

Bread aside, I only have one other rule for Garlic Bread: please use real garlic. As much as I will rip into Pizza Hut garlic bread with enthusiasm, there’s no denying that it has an element of sourness to it which is probably due to using jarred garlic because that’s the main difference I notice between fresh and jarred garlic. From the preservatives, I expect.

Hence why homemade Garlic Bread will always be so much better than Pizza Hut. 🙂 Because the garlic is real and fresh!!

Homemade Garlic Bread.

Completely, utterly, ridiculously, insanely, can’t-stop-eating-it delicious.

Put a juicy, perfectly cooked steak and Garlic Bread in front of me, and I’d choose the Garlic Bread every time, any day and twice on Sunday.

These photos are killing me. Gotta stop looking at them! – Nagi x

4.95 from 18 votes

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Garlic Bread

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Nothing beats homemade garlic bread!! Takeout and ready-made garlic bread will never taste as good because the garlic is not fresh and the preservatives usually give it a sour flavour (jarred garlic is a bit sour because of this). For the ultimate Garlic Bread experience, skip the fancy artisan bread and use an economical French stick / baguette with a softish thin crust instead. The ratio of buttery crust to soft bread is perfect! Recipe VIDEO below.

Servings: 6

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

• 1 French stick / baguette , ~ 60cm / 2ft long (Note 1)
• 125 g / 1 US stick unsalted butter , softened
• 2 tsp fresh garlic , minced (~3 - 4 cloves, pack the teaspoon)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan).
2. Cut the French stick in half. Then cut the bread almost all the way through into 2cm / 4/5" thick slices.
3. Mix together the butter, garlic, salt and parsley. Taste to see if it's salty / garlicky enough for your taste (Note 2).
4. Smear garlic butter over cut side of bread (Note 2).
5. Smear remaining butter on the top and sides of the bread.
6. Wrap each bread in foil.
7. Bake for 15 minutes until the crust is crispy (check through foil).
8. Unwrap and serve!

Recipe Notes

1. You can make Garlic Bread with any bread you choose. However, in my world, classic Garlic Bread should always be made with stock standard supermarket or basic bakery French stick / baguette. The crust isn't that thick, and it's usually pretty soft rather than crispy. Once slathered with butter and baked in foil, I find it yields the perfect ratio of crust crunch to soft, warm, garlic butter soaked bread and it tastes just like Pizza Hut - BUT BETTER!

On the other hand, a thick crust like you get with fancy artisan baguettes is no good - too much crispy crust compared to soft bread inside. Too hard to swallow!

French Stick in Australia is usually around 60 cm / 2 ft long with a diameter of 7 - 9 cm / 2.7 - 3.5".

2. Garlic flavour will reduce slightly once cooked, it's harsh when raw

3. I just smear butter on one side. When the slices press together, the butter melts onto both.

THE “OTHER” GARLIC BREAD

Just in case you missed it, here’s my “other” garlic bread – Cheese & Garlic Crack Bread. Aptly named as such because of how it’s cut and also because it’s said to be garlic bread…. on crack! A bit of fun, great for sharing and ridiculously addictive.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

LIFE OF DOZER

Little souvenir from Tokyo. He’s not a fan. I think he prefers cotton to polyester. Yeah, that’s the problem. For sure. 🤣

PS I had a vision of making him wear this for every “Life of Dozer” photo for Asian recipes. That’s how I justified this “business cost”….. Poor, poor Dozer…..