The Art of Making Garlic Bread

Like so many children of the 70's I was exposed to one type of garlic bread: thick slices of white bread slathered with margarine (butter if we were lucky) and topped with garlic salt and dried parsley flakes before being run under the broiler for a quick browning. This usually resulted in garlic bread that was soft on the bottom, too crunchy on the top and overpowered with pungent dried garlic flavor. There didn't seem to be a lot of thought to it; the bread didn't matter much, the garlic didn't matter much and the whole thing was made as more of an afterthought.

When I married and started making my own garlic bread, I was guilty of using the same method and turned out some not-so-good garlic bread in my time. Fast forward to post-culinary school and I still wasn't very good at it. I changed the granulated garlic or garlic salt to the real deal, but I still used butter and browned the bread the same way.

Finally, I settled on a garlic bread that my whole family loves and devours. Rather than using fresh garlic - which can be too spicy when it's not fully cooked - or butter, I switched things up by using olive oil and roasted garlic with a bit of good cheese to top it all off.

Here's my method - see if it doesn't turn into a favorite in your own home.

Start with roasted garlic. One whole head wrapped in foil or brushed with olive oil and placed in a small dish and roasted in a 350 degree oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until soft.

The bread. We have local bakeries that make very good Italian hoagie rolls. I like this size for individual servings. Four rolls will give you eight good-sized servings.

Slice the bread horizontally.

Brush the cut sides of the bread with good extra virgin olive oil.

The roasted garlic. I use this on one of two ways; mashed together with Kosher or sea salt and then spread on the bread, or spread directly on the bread and then salted. Either way works well.

Roasted garlic spread atop the olive oil.

Sprinkled with sea salt.

Topped with a good quality cheese - not too much, you're not making pizza! This is a six cheese Italian blend - Asiago, Provolone, Parmesan, Romano, Fontina and Mozzarella.

Lay the halves on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop into a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Baking them rather than broiling surrounds the bread with heat and crisps up the outside and melts the cheese without leaving the bottom too soft. Cut into pieces for service.

Veggie Wednesday: The Complete Book of Garlic

When I visit my local food market to purchase garlic I have one of two choices - the usual papery skinned white garlic or elephant garlic. Occasionally I'll come across a purple striped variety, but that would be as exotic as it gets. My choices were limited to those three, and I was OK with that.

Now, though, I'm on the lookout for different varieties. Wait! There are more? You bet your garlic breath there is. How about Spanish Roja, Shvelisi, French Red Asian or Transylvanian? What about garlic that doesn't come in the usual artichoke shaped bulb? Did you know there was such a thing? Did you know that, just like apples, not all garlic tastes the same? I surely didn't.

Ted Jordan Meredith likens the varieties of garlic available to the varieties of apples we have at our disposal. Would you be OK with only Red Delicious apples being sold at your market? I know I wouldn't, and likewise, I shouldn't be satisfied with the usual Artichoke variety of garlic as the only type available to me.

The Complete Book of Garlic walks you through garlic from start to delicious finish. With chapters on Natural History, Cuisine, Therapeutic Benefits, Cultivation and Taxonomy and Diversity - you'll come away from this book a virtual expert in garlic.

If you'd like to grow garlic, simply at home or commercially, everything you need to know - the best type of soil, which variety is your best bet, how to water, when to plant and how to harvest - is included here.

I honestly never knew there were so many cultivars of garlic and I am now wiser and ready to branch out and explore my newly found options.

You can pick up a copy of The Complete Book of Garlic, A Guide for Gardeners, Growers, and Serious Cooks by Ted Jordan Meredith at the Timber Press website, or at Amazon.com.

Garlic, How I Love Thee

"Do not eat garlic or onions; for their smell will reveal that you are a peasant."
Cervantes, Don Quixote (1614)

Peasant I am, then!

When I was in culinary school, we were taught to start nearly every savory dish with the almighty trilogy: clarified butter, garlic and shallots. We would spend countless hours peeling and mincing garlic by hand, most often with our chef's knives. I would go home, reeking of garlic, and hoping my husband and two small daughters, wouldn't mind.


"No one is indifferent to garlic. People either love it or hate it, and most good cooks seem to belong in the first group."
- Faye Levy

Once our class took over running the restaurant, we would encounter specific requests from customers--no sauce, no salt, leave off the olives--and things of that nature. One night, however, the maître d' walked in and inquired of the chefs on the line which dishes were made without garlic. The normally bustling kitchen came to an immediate standstill as we all turned to stare, open-mouthed, at this ludicrous notion. Our professor looked confused for a mere moment then turned abruptly and started barking orders. Whatever this customer would get, it would be fresh--but sadly, to my palate--tasteless.


"There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving."
Leo Buscaglia

I cannot imagine asking for a dish without garlic; in fact, there is hardly a savory dish I make--no matter what the recipe states--without the addition of garlic, and when I realize it is absent from the recipe, I always wonder why. It is fundamental to cooking; it is both complex and simple, making it a truly indispensable food. Food? Yes, FOOD; not herb, accompaniment, spice or seasoning. Garlic is, in and of itself, a highly desirable and much loved food. Italian, French, and German food would be nothing without it. Aioli would cease to exist. The travesty that the world would be without garlic is unfathomable. A day without garlic is like a day without air…if you don’t agree, that’s OK, I’ll forgive you. After all, we can’t all be right, can we?


“It is not really an exaggeration to say that peace and happiness begin, geographically, where garlic is used in cooking.”
X. Marcel Boulestin

The history of garlic dates back to anywhere between 4000 and 6000 years ago, depending on which source you are using. I would love to think that garlic was growing right alongside the tomatoes and olives that I dream were the first vegetation planted by God. It may be a relative of the onion, it may not have been eaten at first (some wouldn’t touch it beyond medicinal purposes), and some may think it to be “stinking” (poor misguided Henri Leclerc). I, however am of like mind with Louis Diat.


“Without garlic I simply would not care to live.”
Louis Diat (1885-1958)

I’ll not bore you with details of the full history--you can find that for yourself in a simple Google search--I will, however, share a recipe and a few more quotes with you.

Garlic Soup with Chicken

Ready In: 1 hour
Serves: 6-8
Printable Recipe

1 whole chicken - about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds, cut up
2 carrots peeled and diced
2 stalks celery diced
1 large onion diced
2 heads garlic - peel 10 cloves and set aside
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Freshly cracked pepper and Kosher salt
4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

1. Put vegetables in the bottom of a large soup pot and add chicken, unpeeled garlic cloves (a little more than 1 head of garlic) and herbs. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2. Remove chicken and garlic cloves and set aside.
3. Strain broth and return to pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by about one-third.
4. When chicken is cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and set aside.
5. Squeeze softened garlic from skins and add 1 teaspoon Kosher salt. Mash into a paste (a mortar and pestle works well for this) and set aside.
6. Heat butter in a small skillet over very low heat. Add the 10 peeled garlic cloves and cook until cloves just begin to brown. Remove cloves with a slotted spoon and add to mashed garlic and mash these together as well.
7. Add flour to butter and whisk until a paste forms. Add mashed garlic to flour and butter and whisk until well combined. Add all to chicken broth. Heat until slightly thickened and add chopped chicken back into the pot. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

*(posted in several forms all over the 'net!)

“Provençal cooking is based on garlic. The air in Provence is impregnated with the aroma of garlic, which makes it very healthful to breathe. Garlic is the main seasoning in bouillabaisse and in the principal sauces of the region. A sort of mayonnaise is made with it by crushing it in oil, and this is eaten with fish and snails. The lower classes in Provence often lunch on a crust of bread sprinkled with oil and rubbed with garlic.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine


"The rabble who had joined the people were overcome by greed, and the Sons of Israel began to wail again, 'Who will give us meat to eat?' They said, 'Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic! Here we are, wasting away, stripped of everything: there is nothing but manna for us to look at."
- The Bible (Numbers 11: 4-6)


“There are five elements: earth, air, fire, water and garlic.”
Louis Diat