The guilty pleasure of homemade garlic bread
Dan Bolyard/courtesy photo Homemade garlic bread carries the flavor that many store-bought loaves lack.
Back when I started my baking career out of high school, I worked in a local retail megamart bakery that made most of its baked goods from scratch. One of the many things we made was French bread, and the day old specimens were made up into garlic bread. These were sliced up, “buttered,” bagged in foil bags, priced, and then placed out for sale. The shopper would take one home and most likely heat it up in the foil bag via the instructions on the bag. Voila! Nice and simple, soft and squishy garlic bread. You know what I am talking about, as some form of this garlic bread can still be purchased at near any current megamart. There is no convenience to buying the stuff if you like your food to have flavor, as you will have to add additional salt and garlic to the loaf.
The way we used to do it seems to have changed over what you can get today, and I don’t think it’s a very good change. Back then, we could cut the loaf nearly all the way through into reasonably thick slices, and then go through the loaf and butter each slice. This way, when you took it home, you could very easily have serving-sized portions right out of the oven while the loaf was still hot. Now, you open the foil bag and find a loaf of French bread that has been split in half lengthwise before being buttered, bagged and sold. This way is by far easier to mass manufacture, but it provides less ease of eating for the customer, as you now have to slice a hot loaf for service. Plus there is less of the butter per loaf too, so it’s cheaper to make. I doubt the price was lowered when the cheaper way to make the loaf was introduced.
When we made up the butter mixture, there was no actual butter in it, nor do I think anyone actually expected real butter from a bakery product like that. It would have had to be refrigerated for it to be sold if it did. What we did was take a large 50-pound block of industrial margarine and place it in the big 80-quart mixer. After beating it up a bit with the paddle attachment, we would add a certain amount of garlic powder and slowly stir it in. Then we would crank up the mixer into fourth gear and beat until the margarine was nice and fluffy. We would have to scrape the bowl down at least once, so someone got to stick their arm into the mixture to make sure there wasn’t a big glob of unseasoned margarine in the bottom of the bowl. When done, the mixture was glopped into a number of 5-gallon buckets with lids and set aside until needed.
Later in my career, as scratch baking was slowly fading away into a process where large factories would ship megamarts pre-baked and pre-packaged foods, the garlic margarine mixture was purchased in 4-gallon buckets. I’m sure they were more expensive to make up, but locations were trying to streamline the amount of labor needed. This margarine had less garlic and less salt in it than the scratch stuff I used to help make. It also had ground up dried parsley in it for added color. It certainly didn’t add any flavor, but it did make the final product prettier.
So there you have it: a small breakdown of megamart garlic bread. I never really cared for it, preferring to make up a batch at home with real butter and garlic.
You can make up the traditionally sliced version of garlic bread easily. Most megamarts sell French bread still. I’d get a loaf, place it on a cutting board, and cut it into slices with a serrated knife. I’d steer clear of the pre-sliced loaves, as the slices are just a bit too thin for this version. I’d make up my butter mixture in my home mixture, and then spread the butter on each slice. Then take a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap the loaf and place the bread in it, making sure the ends are sealed up on the top of the loaf. This way any possible butter drippings are contained in the foil instead of dripping into your hot oven and burning.
The other garlic bread option is the one in the picture, where each slice is toasted individually in a hot oven. This allows the bread to crisp up and brown as desired, giving a crunchy texture, instead of soft and pillowy. Both versions are otherwise made in the same fashion.
Not everyone wants to mess with fresh garlic. I get that. There is a certain amount of convenience in getting the jars of chopped garlic, or garlic granules, or even garlic powder. If you want to use these other forms, conversion is fairly easy. For each fresh chopped clove, use the pre-chopped garlic in the same amount. For powder, use 1/8 teaspoon per clove called for. For granules (or flakes), use 1/2 teaspoon per clove called for. If you like a stronger garlic flavor, you can easily add more.
SOFT GARLIC BREAD
1 cube salted butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 loaf garlic bread, cut into 1-inch slices
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter with the garlic. Let stand 10 minutes to help flavors to mingle. Gently spread the butter on each slice of bread. Place buttered pieces together to resemble a loaf again and wrap in foil, seam side up. Place in hot oven for20 minutes, or until heated through. Be careful when you open up the foil as there may be a puff of hot steam coming out. Serve right away.
TOASTED GARLIC BREAD
1 cube salted butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 loaf garlic bread, cut into 1-inch slices
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Adjust oven rack to top setting. Mix butter with the garlic. Let stand 10 minutes to help flavors to mingle. Gently spread the butter on each slice of bread. Place slices into hot oven. Brown to desired level of doneness. Serve right away.
Become a Subscriber!
You have read all of your free articles this month. Select a plan below to start your subscription today.
Already a subscriber? Login
