What is the best bread to use for garlic bread?
Any crusty bread with a thick crust is suitable for garlic bread: ciabatta and baguette are firm favourites. Garlic bread was brought to America by Italian immigrants reinventing their native bruschetta but using butter in place of the less available olive oil. It can be made with butter, olive oil or a mixture of the two.
Ciabatta is a good choice for garlic bread, as it can be cut horizontally, like a baguette and provides a soft side for the garlic butter and a crusty side to catch it on the other side.
Tips for the best garlic bread
- Make it cheesy: Scatter with grated Parmesan, grated mozzarella or even crumbled goat’s cheese after spreading with the butter.
- Grill the bread over a BBQ or griddle for a slightly charred flavour
- Use a high quality extra virgin olive oil mixed with the garlic butter
- Add a spoonful of pesto into garlic butter.
- Make sure to freshly crush your garlic cloves to make the butter, rather than use convenient jars of garlic purees.
- Make it extra garlicky by adding some garlic powder into the mix.
- Add 1 tbsp of sun dried tomato puree to the garlic butter for an intensely tomatoey hit of flavour
- Try making the garlic butter using wild garlic leaves in place of garlic or by following the recipe for Wild garlic butter here.
What can I use instead of parsley?
Parsley can be substituted with any chopped fresh herbs such as oregano, thyme or tarragon, or even a mixture of any of them.
If you don’t have any fresh herbs, then dried oregano, or dried mixed Italian herbs work well in place of parsley.
How to store and freeze garlic bread
If tightly wrapped in cling film garlic bread will keep in the fridge for 1 day, or can be stored in the freezer for 1 month. Wrap it in foil before baking. The garlic butter can also be made and kept up to 1 week in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
How to reheat garlic bread
Unwrap the bread and cover loosely with foil and place on a baking tray, then heat in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 160C until warmed through. If you have time to defrost it first it will only take 15 minutes to become deliciously warm and crusty.
What to serve with garlic bread
Garlic bread is the perfect partner to saucy pasta dishes such as spaghetti bolognese and macaroni cheese. You can also enjoy it alongside one of our pizza recipes, or as a dunking medium for these soup recipes.
