Weather: 19 degrees, all is calm, all is bright
What I’m listening to: Top Chef: Texas on Bravo
It’s difficult for me to find a garlic bread that I don’t like. Bread. Butter. Garlic. Yum. Can’t really mess it up. One if the most challenging things people encounter is burning the bread. Butter burns quickly and easily at high temperatures. And if you like crusty garlic bread, this is a real dilemma because the butter will almost certainly burn before the bread is crusty enough. What to do?
The answer is extra virgin olive oil. Just as olive oil prevents butter from burning in a sauté pan, the same is true on your bread. Not to mention that a little extra virgin olive oil makes your bread taste even that much better. Try this. It’s magic.
Crusty Parmesan Garlic Bread
- 1 large wide loaf of italian or french bread
- 1/2c butter, softened
- 1T extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/3c fresh parmesan, grated
- 1t dried parsley
- dash of salt
Preheat oven to 400.
Using a bread knife, slice the loaf in half down the center.
In a bowl, mix butter (butter should be soft enough to stir. If not, microwave for 5-10 seconds. It should be loose enough to stir/spread, but not completely melted), olive oil, garlic, parmesan, parsley, and salt until combined. Spread mixture evenly onto two half loaves.
Place loaves onto a baking sheet and bake on the middle rack in oven for 15 minutes until top of loaf is golden and toasty and bread is crusty. When cool enough to touch, slice and serve.
